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MALLEUS 
MALEFI  / 
-  CARUM 


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INNOCENTIVS  .  VIII .  PAPA  GENVENSIS 


4 


MALLEUS 

MALEFIC 

ARUM  translated 

with  an  Introduction,  Biblio¬ 
graphy  and  Notes  by  the 
Rev.  Montague  Summers 


THE  PUSHKIN  PRESS 
LONDON 


FIRST  EDITION  I  JOHN  RODKER  1 928 
FIRST  PRINTED  IN  THIS  FORM  1 948 


Bv'/S.  A  A  14- 


PRINTED 


BY  THE  REPLIKA 


PROCESS 


IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  BY 


LUND  HUMPHRIES 
LONDON  •  BRADFORD 


CONTENTS 


PAOE 

INTRODUCTION  xi 

A  NOTE  UPON  THE  BIBLIOGRAPHY  xvii 

THE  BULL  OF  INNOCENT  VIII  xix 

THE  FIRST  PART 

TREATING  OF  THE  THREE  NECESSARY  CONCOMITANTS  OF  WITCHCRAFT 
WHICH  ARE  THE  DEVIL.  A  WITCH,  AND  THE 


PERMISSION  OF 

* 

PART  ONE 

Question  I. 

Whether  the  Belief  that  there  are  such  Beings  as 
Witches  is  so  Essential  a  Part  of  the  Catholic 
Faith  that  Obstinacy  to  maintain  the  Opposite 
Opinion  manifestly  savours  of  Heresy  page  i 

Question  II. 

If  it  be  in  Accordance  with  the  Catholic  Faith  to 
maintain  that  in  Order  to  bring  about  some  Effect 
of  Magic,  the  Devil  must  intimately  co-operate 
with  the  Witch,  or  whether  one  without  the  other, 
that  is  to  say,  the  Devil  without  the  Witch,  or 
conversely,  could  produce  such  an  Effect  12 

Question  III. 

Whether  Children  can  be  Generated  by  Incubi  and 
Succubi  21 

Question  IV. 

By  which  Devils  are  the  Operations  of  Incubus  and 
Succubus  Practised?  28 

Question  V. 

What  is  the  Source  of  the  Increase  of  Works  of 
Witchcraft?  Whence  comes  it  that  the  Practice 
of  Witchcraft  hath  so  notably  increased?  31 

Question  VI. 

Concerning  Witches  who  copulate  with  Devils. 
Why  is  it  that  Women  are  chiefly  addicted  to 
Evil  Superstitions?  /  41 

Question  VII. 

Whether  Witches  can  Sway  the  Minds  of  Men  to 
Love  or  Hatred  48 

Question  VIII. 

Whether  Witches  can  Hebetate  the  Powers  of 
Generation  or  Obstruct  the  Venereal  Act  54 

Question  IX. 

Whether  Witches  may  work  some  Prestidigitatory 
Illusion  so  that  the  Male  Organ  appears  to  be 
entirely  removed  and  separate  from  the  Body  58 

Question  X. 

Whether  Witches  can  by  some  Glamour  Change 
Men  into  Beasts  61 


ALMIGHTY  GOD 

Question  XI. 

That  Witches  who  are  Midwives  in  Various  Ways 
Kill  the  Child  Conceived  in  the  Womb,  and  Pro¬ 
cure  an  Abortion;  or  if  they  do  not  this,  Offer 
New-born  Children  to  Devils  page  66 

Question  XII. 

Whether  the  Permission  of  Almighty  God  is  an 
Accompaniment  of  Witchcraft  66 

Question  XIII. 

Herein  is  set  forth  the  Question  concerning  the 
Two  Divine  Permissions  which  God  justly  allows, 
namely,  that  the  Devil,  the  Author  of  all  Evil, 
should  Sin,  and  that  our  First  Parents  should 
Fall,  from  which  Origins  the  Works  of  Witches 
are  justly  suffered  to  take  place  71 

Solutions  of  the  Arguments. 

Question  XIV. 

The  Enormity  of  Witches  is  Considered,  and  it  is 
shown  that  the  Whole  Matter  should  be  rightly 
Set  Forth  and  Declared  73 

Question  XV. 

It  is  Shown  that,  on  Account  of  the  Sins  of  Witches, 
the  Innocent  are  often  Bewitched,  yea,  Sometimes 
even  for  their  Own  Sins  77 

Question  XVI. 

The  Foregoing  Truths  are  Set  out  in  Particular; 
this  by  a  Comparison  of  the  Works  of  Witches 
with  Other  Baleful  Superstitions  80 

Question  XVII. 

A  Comparison  of  their  Crimes  under  Fourteen 
Heads,  with  the  Sins  of  the  Devils  of  all  and 
every  Kind  82 

Question  XVIII. 

Here  follows  the  Method  of  Preaching  against  and 
Controverting  Five  Arguments  of  Laymen  and 
Lewd  Folk,  which  seem  to  be  Variously  Ap¬ 
proved,  that  God  does  not  Allow  so  Great  rower 
to  the  Devil  and  Witches  as  is  Involved  in  the 
Performance  of  such  Mighty  Works  of  Witch¬ 
craft  84 


Vll 


VI 11 


CONTENTS 


THE  SECOND  PART 


TREATING  OF  THE  METHODS  BY  WHICH  THE  WORKS  OF  WITCHCRAFT  ARE 
WROUGHT  AND  DIRECTED,  AND  HOW  THEY  MAY  BE 
SUCCESSFULLY  ANNULLED  AND  DISSOLVED 

Resolved  in  but  two  Questions,  yet  these  are  divided  into  many  Chapters. 


QUESTION  I 

Of  those  against  whom  the  Power  of  Witches 
availeth  not  at  all  page  89 


Here  followeth 
Various  Ways 


Chapter  XIV. 
how  Witches  Injure 


in 


Cattle 
page  144 


Chapter  I. 

Of  the  several  Methods  by  which  Devils  through 
Witches  Entice  and  Allure  the  Innocent  to  the 
Increase  of  that  Horrid  Craft  and  Company  96 

Chapter  II. 

Of  the  Way  whereby  a  Formal  Pact  with  Evil  is 
made  gg 

Chap  ter  III. 

How  they  arc  Transported  from  Place  to  Place  104 

Chapter  IV. 

Here  follows  the  Way  whereby  Witches  copulate 
with  those  Devils  known  as  Incubi  109 

Chapter  V. 

Witches  commonly  perform  their  Spells  through 
the  Sacraments  of  the  Church.  And  how  they 
Impair  the  Powers  of  Generation,  and  how  they 
may  Cause  other  Ills  to  happen  to  God’s  Creatures 
of  all  Kinds.  But  herein  we  except  the  Question 
of  the  Influence  of  the  Stars  1 14 

Chapter  VI. 

How  Witches  Impede  and  Prevent  the  Power  of 
Procreation  1  j  7 


Chapter  VII. 

How,  as  it  were,  they  Deprive  Man  of  his  Virile 
Member  1 1 8 


Chapter  VIII. 

Of  the  Maimer  whereby  they  Change  Men  into  the 
Shapes  of  Beasts  122 

Chapter  IX. 

How  Devils  may  enter  the  Human  Body  and  the 
Head  without  doing  any  Hurt,  when  they  cause 
such  Metamorphosis  by  Means  of  Prestidigita¬ 
tion  124 

Chapter  X. 

Of  the  Method  by  which  Devils  through  the 
Operations  of  Witches  sometimes  actually 
possess  Men  I28 


Chapter  XI. 

Of  the  Method  by  which  they  can  Inflict  Every 
Sort  of  Infirmity,  generally  Ills  of  the  Graver 
Kind  134 


Chapter  XII. 

Of  the  Way  how  in  Particular  they  Afflict  Men  with 
Other  Like  Infirmities  137 


Chapter  XV. 

mi  ■  lilii  m 

How  they  Raise  and  Stir  up  Hailstorms  and 
Tempests,  and  Cause  Lightning  to  Blast  both 
Men  and  Beasts  147 


Chapter  XVI. 

Of  Three  Ways  in  which  Men  and  not  Women  may 
be  Discovered  to  be  Addicted  to  Witchcraft: 
Divided  into  Three  Heads:  and  First  of  the 
Witchcraft  of  Archers  1 50 


QUESTION  II 

THE  METHODS  OF  DESTROYING  AND 
CURING  WITCHCRAFT 

Introduction,  wherein  is  Set  Forth  the  Difficulty  of  this 

Question. 

Chapter  I. 

The  Remedies  prescribed  by  Holy  Church  against 
Incubus  and  Succubus  Devils  164 

Chapter  II. 

Remedies  prescribed  for  Those  who  are  Bewitched 
by  the  Limitation  of  the  Generative  Power  167 

Chapter  III. 

Remedies  prescribed  for  those  who  are  Bewitched 
by  being  Inflamed  with  Inordinate  Love  or 
Extraordinary  Hatred  1 70 

Chapter  IV. 

Remedies  prescribed  for  those  who  by  Prestidi- 
gitatory  Art  have  lost  their  Virile  Members  or 
have  seemingly  been  Transformed  into  the  Shapes 
of  Beasts  1 73 

Chapter  V. 

Prescribed  Remedies  for  those  who  are  Obsessed 
owing  to  some  Spell  1 75 

Chapter  VI. 

Prescribed  Remedies ;  to  wit,  the  Lawful  Exorcisms 
of  the  Church,  for  all  Sorts  of  Infirmities  and 
Ills  due  to  Witchcraft;  and  the  Method  of 
Exorcising  those  who  are  Bewitched  1 7g 

Chapter  VII. 

Remedies  prescribed  against  Hailstorms,  and  for 
Animals  that  are  Bewitched  188 


Chapter  XIII. 

How  Witch  Midwives  commit  most  Horrid 
Crimes  when  they  either  Kill  Children  or  Offer 
them  to  Devils  in  most  Accursed  Wise  140 


Chapter  VIII. 

Certain  Remedies  prescribed  against  those  Dark 
and  Horrid  Harms  with  which  Devils  may 
Afflict  Men  1 92 


CONTENTS 


ix 


THE  THIRD  PART 

RELATING  TO  THE  JUDICIAL  PROCEEDINGS  IN  BOTH  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 
AND  CIVIL  COURTS  AGAINST  WITCHES  AND 
INDEED  ALL  HERETICS 

Containing  XXXV  Questions  in  which  are  most  Clearly  set  out  the  Formal  Rules  for  Initiating  a  Process  of 
Justice,  how  it  should  be  Conducted,  and  the  Method  of  Pronouncing  Sentence. 


QUESTION  I 
General  and  Introductory 

Who  are  the  Fit  and  Proper  Judges  in  the  Trial  of 
Witches?  page  194 

THE  FIRST  HEAD 

Question  I. 

The  Method  of  Initiating  a  Process  205 

Question  II. 

Of  the  Number  of  the  Witnesses  208 

Question  III. 

Of  the  Solemn  Adjuration  and  Re-examination  of 
Witnesses  209 

Question  IV. 

Of  the  Quality  and  Condition  of  Witnesses  209 

Question  V. 

Whether  Mortal  Enemies  may  be  Admitted  as 

Witnesses  209 

THE  SECOND  HEAD 

Question  VI. 

How  the  Trial  is  to  be  Proceeded  with  and  Con¬ 
tinued.  And  how  the  Witnesses  are  to  be 
Examined  in  the  Presence  of  Four  Other  Persons, 
and  how  the  Accused  is  to  be  Questioned  in  Two 
Ways  2 1  o 

Question  VII. 

In  Which  Various  Doubts  are  Set  Forth  with 
Regard  to  the  Foregoing  Questions  and  Negative 
Answers.  Whether  the  Accused  is  to  be  Im¬ 
prisoned,  and  when  she  is  to  be  considered  as 
Manifestly  Taken  in  the  Foul  Heresy  of  Witch¬ 
craft.  This  is  the  Second  Action  213 

Question  VIII. 

Which  Follows  from  the  Preceding  Question, 
Whether  the  Witch  is  to  be  Imprisoned,  and  of 
the  Method  of  Taking  her.  This  is  the  Third 
Action  of  the  Judge  2 14 

Question  IX. 

What  is  to  be  done  after  the  Arrest,  and  whether 
the  Names  of  the  Witnesses  should  be  made 
Known  to  the  Accused.  This  is  the  Fourth 
Action  216 

Question  X. 

What  Kind  of  Defence  may  be  Allowed,  and  of  the 
Appointment  of  an  Advocate.  This  is  the  Fifth 
Action  217 

Question  XI. 

What  Course  the  Advocate  should  Adopt  when  the 
Names  of  the  Witnesses  are  not  Revealed  to  him. 
The  Sixth  Action  218 


Question  XII. 

Of  the  Same  Matter,  Declaring  more  Particularly 
how  the  Question  of  Personal  Enmity  is  to  be 
Investigated.  The  Seventh  Action.  page  220 

Question  XIII. 

Of  the  Points  to  be  Observed  by  the  Judge  before 
the  Formal  Examination  in  the  Place  of  Deten¬ 
tion  and  Torture.  This  is  the  Eighth  Action  222 

Question  XIV. 

Of  the  Method  of  Sentencing  the  Accused  to  be 
Questioned:  and  How  she  must  be  Questioned 
on  the  First  Day;  and  Whether  she  may  be 
Promised  her  Life.  The  Ninth  Action  225 

Question  XV. 

Of  the  Continuing  of  the  Torture,  and  of  the 
Devices  and  Signs  by  which  the  Judge  can 
Recognize  a  Witch ;  and  how  he  ought  to  Protect 
himself  from  their  Spells.  Also  how  they  are  to 
be  Shaved  in  those  Parts  where  they  use  to 
Conceal  the  Devil’s  Masks  and  Tokens ;  to¬ 
gether  with  the  due  Setting  Forth  of  Various 
Means  of  Overcoming  their  Obstinacy  in  Keeping 
Silence  and  Refusal  to  Confess.  And  it  is  the 
Tenth  Action  227 

Question  XVI. 

Of  the  fit  Time  and  of  the  Method  of  the  Second 
Examination.  And  it  is  the  Eleventh  Action, 
concerning  the  Final  Precautions  to  be  Observed 
by  the  Judge  230 

THE  THIRD  HEAD 

Which  is  the  last  Part  of  this  Work.  How  the 
Process  is  to  be  Concluded  by  the  Pronounce¬ 
ment  of  a  Definite  and  Just  Sentence  232 

Question  XVII. 

Of  Common  Purgation,  and  especially  of  the  Trial 
by  Red-hot  Iron,  to  which  Witches  Appeal  233 

Question  XVIII. 

Of  the  Manner  of  Pronouncing  a  Sentence  which 
is  Final  and  Definitive  235 

Question  XIX. 

Of  the  Various  Degrees  of  Overt  Suspicion  which 
render  the  Accused  liable  to  be  Sentenced  236 

Question  XX. 

Of  the  First  Method  of  Pronouncing  Sentence  240 
Question  XXL 

Of  the  Second  Method  of  Pronouncing  Sentence, 
when  the  Accused  is  no  more  than  Defamed  241 

Question  XXII. 

Of  the  Third  Kind  of  Sentence,  to  be  Pronounced 
on  one  who  is  Defamed,  and  who  is  to  be  put  to 
the  Question  242 


X 


CONTENTS 


Question  XXI1J. 

The  Fourth  Method  of  Sentencing,  in  the  Case  of 
one  Accused  upon  a  Light  Suspicion  page  244 

Question  XXIV. 

The  Fifth  Manner  of  Sentence,  in  the  Case  of  one 
under  Strong  Suspicion  246 

Question  XXV. 

The  Sixth  Kind  of  Sentence,  in  the  Case  of  one 
who  is  Gravely  Suspect  248 

Question  XXVI. 

The  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon  one  who  is 
both  Suspect  and  Defamed  250 

Question  XXVII. 

The  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon  one  who 
hath  Confessed  to  Heresy,  but  is  not  Penitent  252 

Question  XXVIII. 

The  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon  one  who 
hath  Confessed  to  Heresy  but  is  Relapsed, 

Albeit  now  Penitent  254 

Question  XXIX. 

The  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon  one  who 
hath  Confessed  to  Heresy  but  is  Impenitent, 

although  not  Relapsed  257 


Question  XXX. 

Of  One  who  has  Confessed  to  Heresy,  is  Relapsed, 
and  is  also  Impenitent  page  258 

Question  XXXI. 

Of  One  Taken  and  Convicted,  but  Denying 
Everything  259 

Question  XXXII. 

Of  One  who  is  Convicted  but  who  hath  Fled  or 
who  Contumaciously  Absents  himself  261 

Question  XXXIII. 

Of  the  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon  one  who 
has  been  Accused  by  another  Witch,  who  has 
been  or  is  to  be  Burned  at  the  Stake  264 

Question  XXXIV. 

Of  the  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon  a  Witch 
who  Annuls  Spells  wrought  by  Witchcraft ;  and 
of  Witch  Midwives  and  Archer-Wizards  268 

Question  XXXV. 

Finally,  of  the  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon 
Witches  who  Enter  or  Cause  to  be  Entered  an 
Appeal,  whether  such  be  Frivolous  or  Legitimate 
and  Just  2^x 


INTRODUCTION 


IT  has  been  observed  that  “it  is 
quite  impossible  to  appreciate  and 
understand  the  true  and  inner  lives 
of  men  and  women  in  Elizabethan 
and  Stuart  England,  in  the  France  of 
Louis  XIII  and  during  the  long  reign 
of  his  son  and  successor,  in  Italy  of  the 
Renaissance  and  the  Catholic  Reaction 
— to  name  but  three  European  coun¬ 
tries  and  a  few  definite  periods — unless 
we  have  some  realization  of  the  part 
that  Witchcraft  played  in  those  ages 
amid  the  affairs  of  these  Kingdoms.  All 
classes  were  affected  and  concerned 
from  Pope  to  peasant,  from  Queen  to 
cottage  girl.” 

Witchcraft  was  inextricably  mixed 
with  politics.  Matthew  Paris  tells  us 
how  in  1232  the  Chief  Justice  Hubert 
de  Burgh,  Earl  of  Kent,  (Shakespeare’s 
“gentle  Hubert”  in  King  John),  was, 
amongst  other  crimes,  openly  accused 
by  Peter  de  Roches,  Bishop  of  Win¬ 
chester,  of  having  won  the  favour  of 
Henry  III  through  “charms  and  incan¬ 
tations”.  In  1324  there  was  a  terrific 
scandal  at  Coventry  when  it  was  dis¬ 
covered  that  a  number  of  the  richest 
and  most  influential  burghers  of  the 
town  had  long  been  consulting  with 
Master  John,  a  professional  necro¬ 
mancer,  and  paying  him  large  sums  to 
bring  about  by  his  arts  the  death  of 
Edward  II  and  several  nobles  of  the 
court.  Alice  Perrers,  the  mistress  of 
Edward  III,  was  not  only  reputed  to 
have  infatuated  the  old  King  by  occult 
spells,  but  her  physician  (believed  to  be 
a  mighty  sorcerer)  was  arrested  on  a 
charge  of  confecting  love  philtres  and 
talismans.  Henry  V,  in  the  autumn  of 
1419,  prosecuted  his  stepmother,  Joan 
of  Navarre,  for  attempting  to  kill  him 
by  witchcraft,  “in  the  most  horrible 
manner  that  one  could  devise.”  The 
conqueror  of  Agincourt  was  exceeding¬ 
ly  worried  about  the  whole  wretched 
business,  as  also  was  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  who  ordered  public  prayers 


for  the  King’s  safety.  In  the  reign  of 
his  son,  Henry  VI,  in  1441,  one  of  the 
highest  and  noblest  ladies  in  the  realm, 
Eleanor  Cobham,  Duchess  of  Glouces¬ 
ter,  was  arraigned  for  conspiring  with 
“a  clerk”,  Roger  Bolingbroke,  “a  most 
notorious  evoker  of  demons”,  and  “the 
most  famous  scholar  in  the  whole  world 
in  astrology  in  magic”,  to  procure  the 
death  of  the  young  monarch  by  sorcery, 
so  that  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  Henry’s 
uncle  and  guardian,  might  succeed  to 
the  crown.  In  this  plot  were  further 
involved  Canon  Thomas  Southwell, 
and  a  “relapsed  witch”,  that  is  to  say, 
one  who  had  previously  (eleven  years 
before)  been  incarcerated  upon  grave 
suspicion  of  black  magic,  Margery 
Jourdemayne.  Bolingbroke,  whose  con¬ 
fession  implicated  the  Duchess,  was 
hanged ;  Canon  Southwell  died  in 
prison;  the  witch  in  Smithfield  was 
“burn’d  to  Ashes”,  since  her  offence 
was  high  treason.  The  Duchess  was 
sentenced  to  a  most  degrading  public 
penance,  and  imprisoned  for  life  in 
Peel  Castle,  Isle  of  Man.  Richard  III, 
upon  seizing  the  throne  in  1483, 
declared  that  the  marriage  of  his 
brother,  Edward  IV,  with  the  Lady 
Elizabeth  Grey,  had  been  brought 
about  by  “sorcery  and  witchcraft”,  and 
further  that  “Edward’s  wife,  that  mon¬ 
strous  witch,”  has  plotted  with  Jane 
Shore  to  waste  and  wither  his  body. 
Poor  Jane  Shore  did  most  exemplary 
penance,  walking  the  flinty  streets  of 
London  barefoot  in  her  kirtle.  In  the  |j 
same  year  when  Richard  wanted  to  get 
rid  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  his 
former  ally,  one  of  the  chief  accusations 
he  launched  was  that  the  Duke  con¬ 
sulted  with  a  Cambridge  “necroman¬ 
cer”  to  compass  and  devise  his  death. 

One  of  the  most  serious  and  frighten¬ 
ing  events  in  the  life  of  James  VII  of 
Scotland  (afterwards  James  I  of  Eng¬ 
land)  was  the  great  conspiracy  of  1 590, 
organized  by  the  Earl  of  Bothwell. 


xi 


Xll 


INTRODUCTION 


James  with  good  reason  feared  and 
hated  Bothwell,  who,  events  amply 
proved,  was  Grand  Master  of  a  com¬ 
pany  of  more  than  one  hundred  witches, 
all  adepts  in  poisoning,  and  all  eager  to 
do  away  with  the  King.  In  other  words, 
Francis  Stewart,  Earl  of  Bothwell,  was 
the  centre  and  head  of  a  vast  political 
plot.  A  widespread  popular  panic  was 
the  result  of  the  discovery  of  this 
murderous  conspiracy. 

In  France  as  early  as  583,  when  the 
infant  son  and  heir  of  King  Chilperic, 
died  of  dysentery,  as  the  doctors  diag¬ 
nosed  it,  it  came  to  light  that  Mum- 
molus,  one  of  the  leading  officials  of  the 
court,  had  been  secretly  administering 
to  the  child  medicines,  which  he  ob¬ 
tained  from  “certain  witches  of  Paris”. 
These  potions  were  pronounced  by  the 
physicians  to  be  strong  poisons.  In  1308, 
Guichard,  Bishop  of  Troyes,  was  accused 
of  having  slain  by  sorcery  the  Queen  of 
Philip  IV  of  France  (1285-1314), 
Jeanne  of  Navarre,  who  died  three 
years  before.  The  trial  dragged  on  from 
1308  to  1313,  and  many  witnesses 
attested  on  oath  that  the  prelate  had 
continually  visited  certain  notorious 
witches,  who  supplied  him  philtres  and 
draughts.  In  1315,  during  the  brief 
reign  (1314-1316)  of  Louis  X,  the 
eldest  son  of  Philip  IV,  was  hanged 
Enguerrand  de  Marigny,  chamberlain, 
privy  councillor,  and  chief  favourite  of 
Philip,  whom,  it  was  alleged,  he  had 
bewitched  to  gain  the  royal  favour.  The 
fact,  however,  which  sealed  his  doom 
was  his  consultation  with  one  Jacobus 
de  Lor,  a  warlock,  who  was  to  furnish 
a  nostrum  warranted  to  put  a  very 
short  term  to  the  life  of  King  Louis. 
Jacobus  strangled  himself  in  prison. 

In  1317  Hugues  Geraud,  Bishop  of 
Cahors,  was  executed  by  Pope  John 
XXII,  who  reigned  1316-1334,  resid¬ 
ing  at  Avignon.  Langlois  says  that  the 
Bishop  had  attempted  the  Pontiff’s  life 
by  poison  procured  from  witches. 

Perhaps  the  most  resounding  of  all 
scandals  of  this  kind  in  France  was  the 
La  Voison  case,  1679-1682,  when  it 
was  discovered  that  Madame  de  Mon¬ 
tespan  had  for  years  been  trafficking 
with  a  gang  of  poisoners  and  sorcerers, 
who  plotted  the  death  of  the  Queen  and 
the  Dauphin,  so  that  Louis  XIV  might 
be  free  to  wed  Athenais  de  Montespan, 


whose  children  should  inherit  the 
throne.  The  Duchesse  de  Fontanges,  a 
beautiful  young  country  girl,  who  had 
for  a  while  attracted  the  wayward  fancy 
of  Louis,  they  poisoned  out  of  hand. 
Money  was  poured  out  like  water,  and 
it  has  been  said  that  “the  entire  flood- 
tide  of  poison,  witchcraft  and  diabolism 
was  unloosed”  to  attain  the  ends  of  that 
“marvellous  beauty”  (so  Mme.  de 
Sevigne  calls  her),  the  haughty  and 
reckless  Marquise  de  Montespan.  In 
her  thwarted  fury  she  well  nigh  resolved 
to  sacrifice  Louis  himself  to  her  over¬ 
weening  ambition  and  her  boundless 
pride.  The  highest  names  in  France — 
the  Princesse  de  Tingry,  the  Duchesse 
de  Vitry,  the  Duchesse  de  Lusignan, 
the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon,  the  Comtesse 
de  Soissons,  the  Due  de  Luxembourg, 
the  Marquis  de  Cessac — scores  of  the 
oldest  aristocracy,  were  involved,  whilst 
literally  hundreds  of  venal  apothecaries, 
druggists,  pseudo-alchemists,  astrolo¬ 
gers,  quacks,  warlocks,  magicians,  char¬ 
latans,  who  revolved  round  the  ominous 
and  terrible  figure  of  Catherine  La 
Voisin,  professional  seeress,  fortune¬ 
teller,  herbalist,  beauty-specialist,  were 
caught  in  the  meshes  of  the  law.  No  less 
than  eleven  volumes  of  Francois  Ravais- 
son’s  huge  work,  Archives  de  la  Bastille , 
are  occupied  with  this  evil  crew  and 
their  doings,  their  sorceries  and  their 
poisonings. 

During  the  reign  of  Urban  VIII, 
Maffeo  Barberini,  1623-1644,  there 
was  a  resounding  scandal  at  Rome  when 
it  was  discovered  that  “after  many  invo¬ 
cations  of  demons”  Giacinto  Contini, 
nephew  of  the  Cardinal  d’Ascoli,  had 
been  plotting  with  various  accomplices 
to  put  an  end  to  the  Pope’s  life,  and 
thus  make  way  for  the  succession  of  his 
uncle  to  the  Chair  of  Peter.  Tommaso 
Orsolini  of  Recanate,  moreover,  after 
consulting  with  certain  scryers  and 
planetarians,  readers  of  the  stars,  was 
endeavouring  to  bribe  the  apothecary 
Carcurasio  of  Naples  to  furnish  him 
with  a  quick  poison,  which  might  be 
mingled  with  the  tonics  and  electuaries 
prescribed  for  the  ailing  Pontiff,  (Ranke, 
History  of  the  Popes,  ed.  1901,  Vol.  III, 
PP-  375-6)- 

To  sum  up,  as  is  well  observed  by 
Professor  Kittredge,  who  more  than 
once  emphasized  “I  have  no  belief  in 


INTRODUCTION 


Xlll 


the  black  art  or  in  the  interference  of 
demons  in  the  daily  life  of  mortals”, 
it  makes  no  difference  whether  any  of 
the  charges  were  true  or  whether  the 
whole  affairs  were  hideous  political 
chicanery.  “Anyhow,  it  reveals  the 
beliefs  and  the  practices  of  the  age.” 

Throughout  the  centuries  witchcraft 
was  universally  held  to  be  a  dark  and 
horrible  reality;  it  was  an  ever-present, 
fearfully  ominous  menace,  a  thing  most 
active,  most  perilous,  most  powerful 
and  true.  Some  may  consider  these 
mysteries  and  cantrips  and  invocations, 
these  sabbats  and  rendezvous,  to  have 
been  .merest  mummery  and  pantomime, 
but  there  is  no  question  that  the 
psychological  effect  was  incalculable, 
and  harmful  in  the  highest  degree.  It 
was,  to  use  a  modern  phrase,  “a  war  of 
nerves”.  Jean  Bodin,  the  famous  juris¬ 
consult  (1530-90)  whom  Montaigne 
acclaims  to  be  the  highest  literary 
genius  of  his  time,  and  who,  as  a  lead¬ 
ing  member  of  the  Parlement  de  Paris, 
presided  over  important  trials,  gives  it 
as  his  opinion  that  there  existed,  not 
only  in  France,  a  complete  organization 
of  witches,  immensely  wealthy,  of  al¬ 
most  infinite  potentialities,  most  clever¬ 
ly  captained,  with  centres  and  cells  in 
every  district,  utilizing  an  espionage  in 
every  land,  with  high-placed  adherents 
at  court,  with  humble  servitors  in  the 
cottage.  This  organization,  witchcraft, 
maintained  a  relentless  and  ruthless 
war  against  the  prevailing  order  and 
settled  state.  No  design  was  too  trea¬ 
cherous,  no  betrayal  was  too  cowardly, 
no  blackmail  too  base  and  foul.  The 
Masters  lured  their  subjects  with  mag¬ 
nificent  promises,  they  lured  and  delu¬ 
ded  and  victimized.  Not  the  least 
dreaded  and  dreadful  weapon  in  their 
armament  was  the  ancient  and  secret 
knowledge  of  poisons  ( veneficia ),  of  herbs 
healing  and  hurtful,  a  tradition  and  a 
lore  which  had  been  handed  down 
from  remotest  antiquity. 

Little  wonder,  then,  that  later  social 
historians,  such  as  Charles  Mackay  and 
Lecky,  both  absolutely  impartial  and 
unprejudiced  writers,  sceptical  even, 
devote  many  pages,  the  result  of  long 
and  laborious  research,  to  witchcraft. 
They  did  not  believe  in  witchcraft  as 
in  any  sense  supernatural,  although 
perhaps  abnormal.  But  the  centuries  of 


which  they  were  writing  believed  in¬ 
tensely  in  it,  and  it  was  their  business  as 
scholars  to  examine  and  explain  the 
reasons  for  such  belief.  It  was  by  no 
means  all  mediaeval  credulity  and 
ignorance  and  superstition.  Mackay 
and  Lecky  fully  recognized  this,  as 
indeed  they  were  in  all  honesty  bound 
to  do.  They  met  with  facts,  hard  facts, 
which  could  neither  have  been  acci¬ 
dents  nor  motiveless,  and  these  facts 
must  be  accounted  for  and  elucidated. 
The  profoundest  thinkers,  the  acutest 
and  most  liberal  minds  of  their  day, 
such  men  as  Cardan;  Trithemius;  the 
encyclopaedic  Delrio;  Bishop  Binsfeld; 
the  learned  physician,  Caspar  Peucer; 
Jean  Bodin;  Sir  Edward  Coke,  “father 
of  the  English  law”;  Francis  Bacon; 
Malebranche;  Bayle;  Glanvil;  Sir 
Thomas  Browne;  Cotton  Mather;  all 
these,  and  scores  besides,  were  con¬ 
vinced  of  the  dark  reality  of  witchcraft, 
of  the  witch  organization.  Such  a  con¬ 
sensus  of  opinion  throughout  the  years 
cannot  be  lightly  dismissed. 

The  literature  of  the  subject,  dis¬ 
cussing  it  in  every  detail,  from  every 
point  of  view,  from  every  angle,  is 
enormous.  For  example,  such  a  Biblio¬ 
graphy  as  that  of  Yve-Plessis,  1900, 
which  deals  only  with  leading  French 
cases  and  purports  to  be  no  more  than 
a  supplement  to  the  Bibliographies  of 
Graesse,  the  Catalogues  of  the  Abbe 
Sepher,  Ouvaroff,  the  comte  d’Ourches, 
the  forty-six  volumes  of  Dr.  Hoefer, 
Schieble,  Stanislas  de  Guaita,  and  many 
more,  lists  nearly  2,000  items,  and  in  a 
note  we  are  warned  that  the  work  is 
very  far  from  complete.  The  Manuel 
Bibliographique ,  3  vols.,  1912,  of  Albert 
L.  Caillet,  gives  1 1 ,648  items.  Caillet 
has  many  omissions,  some  being  trea¬ 
tises  of  the  first  importance.  The 
library  of  witchcraft  may  without 
exaggeration  be  said  to  be  incalculable. 

It  is  hardly  disputed  that  in  the 
whole  vast  literature  of  witchcraft,  the 
most  prominent,  the  most  important, 
the  most  authoritative  volume  is  the 
Malleus  Maleficarum  ( The  Witch  Hammer) 
of  Heinrich  Kramer  (Henricus  Insti¬ 
toris)  and  James  Sprenger.  The  date  of 
the  first  edition  of  the  Malleus  cannot 
be  fixed  with  absolute  certainty,  but  the 
likeliest  year  is  i486.  There  were,  at  any 
rate,  fourteen  editions  between  1487 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION 

♦ 


and  1520,  and  at  least  sixteen  editions 
between  1574  and  1669.  These  were 
issued  from  the  leading  German,  French 
and  Italian  presses.  The  latest  reprint 
of  the  original  text  of  the  Malleus  is  to 
be  found  in  the  noble  four  volume 
collection  of  Treatises  on  Witchcraft, 
“sumptibus  Claudii  Bourgeat”,  4to., 
Lyons,  1669.  There  is  a  modern  Ger¬ 
man  translation  by  J.  W.  R.  Schmidt, 
Der  Hexenhammer,  3  vols.,  Berlin,  1906; 
second  edition,  1922-3.  There  is  also  an 
English  translation  with  Introduction, 
Bibliography,  and  Notes  by  Montague 
Summers,  published  John  Rodker,  1928. 

The  Malleus  acquired  especial  weight 
and  dignity  from  the  famous  Bull  of 
Pope  Innocent  VIII,  Summis  deside¬ 
rantes  affectibus  of  9  December,  1484,  in 
which  the  Pontiff,  lamenting  the  power 
and  prevalence  of  the  witch  organiza¬ 
tion,  delegates  Heinrich  Kramer  and 
James  Sprenger  as  inquisitors  of  these 
pravities  throughout  Northern  Ger¬ 
many,  particularly  in  the  provinces  and 
dioceses  of  Mainz,  Cologne,  Treves, 
Salzburg,  and  Bremen,  granting  both 
and  either  of  them  an  exceptional 
authorization,  and  by  Letters  Apostolic 
requiring  the  Bishop  of  Strasburg, 
Albrecht  von  Bayern  (1478-1506),  not 
only  to  take  all  steps  to  publish  and 
proclaim  the  Bull,  but  further  to  afford 
Kramer  and  Sprenger  every  assistance, 
even  calling  in,  if  necessary,  the  help  of 
the  secular  arm. 

This  Bull,  which  was  printed  as  the 
Preface  to  the  Malleus ,  was  thus,  com¬ 
ments  Dr.  H.  C.  Lea,  “spread  broad¬ 
cast  over  Europe”.  In  fact,  “it  fastened 
on  European  jurisprudence  for  nearly 
three  centuries  the  duty  of  combating” 
the  Society  of  Witches.  The  Malleus  lay 
on  the  bench  of  every  judge,  on  the 
desk  of  every  magistrate.  It  was  the 
ultimate,  irrefutable,  unarguable  au¬ 
thority.  It  was  implicitly  accepted  not 
only  by  Catholic  but  by  Protestant 
legislature.  In  fine,  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  the  Malleus  Maleficarum  is 
among  the  most  important,  wisest,  and 
weightiest  books  of  the  world. 

„  It  has  been  asked  whether  Kramer 
or  Sprenger  was  principally  responsible 
for  the  Malleus ,  but  in  the  case  of  so 
close  a  collaboration  any  such  inquiry 
seems  singularly  superfluous  and  nuga¬ 
tory.  With  regard  to  instances  of  joint 


authorship,  unless  there  be  some  defi¬ 
nite  declaration  on  the  part  of  one  of 
the  authors  as  to  his  particular  share  in 
a  work,  or  unless  there  be  some  unusual 
and  special  circumstances  bearing  on 
the  point,  such  perquisitions  and  analy¬ 
ses  almost  inevitably  resolve  thefnselves 
into  a  cloud  of  guess-work  and  bootless 
hazardry  and  vague  perhaps.  It  be¬ 
comes  a  game  of  literary  blind-man’s- 
buff. 

Heinrich  Kramer  was  born  at 
Schlettstadt,  a  town  of  Lower  Alsace, 
situated  some  twenty-six  miles  south¬ 
west  of  Strasburg.  At  an  early  age  he 
entered  the  Order  of  S.  Dominic,  and 
so  remarkable  was  his  genius  that  whilst 
still  a  young  man  he  was  appointed  to 
the  position  of  Prior  of  the  Dominican 
House  at  his  native  town,  Schlettstadt. 
He  was  a  Preacher-General  and  a 
Master  of  Sacred  Theology,  P.G.  and 
S.T.M.,  two  high  distinctions  in  the 
Dominican  Order.  At  some  date  before 
1474  he  was  appointed  an  Inquisitor 
for  the  Tyrol,  Salzburg,  Bohemia,  and 
Moravia.  His  eloquence  in  the  pulpit 
and  tireless  activity  received  due  recog¬ 
nition  at  Rome,  and  for  many  years  he 
was  Spiritual  Director  of  the  great 
Dominican  church  at  Salzburg,  and 
the  right-hand  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Salzburg,  a  munificent  prelate  who 
praises  him  highly  in  a  letter  which  is 
still  extant.  In  the  late  autumn  or 
winter  of  1485  Kramer  had  already 
drawn  up  a  learned  instruction  or 
treatise  on  the  subject  of  witchcraft. 
This  circulated  in  manuscript,  and  is 
(almost  in  its  entirety)  incorporated  in 
the  Malleus.  By  the  Bull  of  Innocent 
VIII  in  December,  1484,  he  had 
already  been  associated  with  James 
Sprenger  to  make  inquisition  for  and 
try  witches  and  sorcerers.  In  1495,  the 
Master  General  of  the  Order,  Fr. 
Joaquin  de  Torres,  O.P.,  summoned 
Kramer  to  Venice  in  order  that  he 
might  give  public  lectures,  disputations 
which  attracted  crowded  audiences, 
and  which  were  honoured  by  the 
presence  and  patronage  of  the  Patriarch 
of  Venice.  He  also  strenuously  defended 
the  Papal  supremacy,  confuting  the  De 
Monarchia  of  the  Paduan  jurisconsult, 
Antonio  degli  Roselli.  At  Venice  he 
resided  at  the  priory  of  Santi  Giovanni 
e  Paolo  (S.  Zanipolo).  During  the 


INTRODUCTION 


xv 


summer  of  1497,  he  had  returned  to 
Germany,  and  was  living  at  the  convent 
of  Rohr,  near  Regensburg.  On  31 
January,  1500,  Alexander  VI  appointed 
him  as  Nuncio  and  Inquisitor  of 
Bohemia  and  Moravia,  in  which  pro¬ 
vinces  he  was  deputed  and  empowered 
to  proceed  against  the  Waldenses  and 
Picards,  as  well  as  against  the  adherents 
of  the  witch-society.  He  wrote  and 
preached  with  great  fervour  until  the 
end.  He  died  in  Bohemia  in  1505. 

His  chief  works,  in  addition  to  the 
Malleus ,  are:  Several  Discourses  and  Vari¬ 
ous  Sermons  upon  the  Most  Holy  Sacrament 
of  the  Eucharist ;  Nuremberg,  1496;  A 
Tract  Confuting  the  Errors  of  Master 
Antonio  degli  Roselli ;  Venice,  1499;  and 
The  Shield  of  Defence  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Church  Against  the  Picards  and  Waldenses ; 
an  incunabulum,  without  date,  but 
almost  certainly  1499-1500.  Many 
learned  authors  quote'  and  refer  to 
these  treatises  in  terms  of  highest  praise. 

James  Sprenger  was  born  in  Basel, 
1436-8.  He  was  admitted  a  novice  in 
the  Dominican  house  of  this  town  in 
1452.  His  extraordinary  genius  attrac¬ 
ted  immediate  attention,  and  his  rise  to 
a  responsible  position  was  very  rapid. 
According  to  Pierre  Helyot,  the  Fran¬ 
ciscan  (1680-1716),  Histoire  des  Ordres 
Religieux ,  III  (1715),  ch.  XXVI,  in 
1389  Conrad  of  Prussia  abolished  cer¬ 
tain  relaxations  and  abuses  which  had 
crept  into  the  Teutonic  Province  of  the 
Order  of  S.  Dominic,  and  restored  the 
Primitive  and  Strict  Obedience.  He 
was  closely  followed  by  Sprenger, 
whose  zealous  reform  was  so  warmly 
approved  that  in  1468  the  General 
Chapter  ordered  him  to  lecture  on  the 
Sentences  of  Peter  Lombard  at  the 
University  of  Cologne,  to  which  he  was 
thus  officially  attached.  A  few  years 
later  he  proceeded  Master  of  Theology, 
and  was  elected  Prior  and  Regent  of 
Studies  of  the  Cologne  Convent,  one  of 
the  most  famous  and  frequented  Houses 
of  the  Order.  On  30  June,  1480,  he  was 
elected  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Theology 
at  the  University.  His  lecture-room  was 
thronged,  and  in  the  following  year,  at 
the  Chapter  held  in  Rome,  the  Master 
General  of  the  Order,  Fra  Salvo 
Cassetta,  appointed  him  Inquisitor 
Extraordinary  for  the  Provinces  of 
Mainz,  Treves,  and  Cologne.  His 


activities  were  enormous,  and  deman¬ 
ded  constant  journeyings  through  the 
very  extensive  district  to  which  he  had 
been  assigned.  In  1488  he  was  elected 
Provincial  of  the  whole  German  Pro¬ 
vince,  an  office  of  the  first  importance. 
It  is  said  that  his  piety  and  his  learning 
impressed  all  who  came  in  contact  with 
him.  In  1495  he  was  residing  at 
Cologne,  and  here  he  received  a  letter 
from  Alexander  VI  praising  his  en¬ 
thusiasm  and  his  energy.  He  died 
rather  suddenly,  in  the  odour  of 
sanctity — some  chronicles  call  him 
Beatus” — on  6  December,  1495,  a* 
Strasburg,  where  he  is  buried. 

Among  Sprenger’s  other  writings, 
excepting  the  Malleus ,  are  The  Para¬ 
doxes  of  John  of  Westphalia  Refuted , 
Mainz,  1479,  a  closely  argued  treatise; 
and  The  Institution  and  Approbation  of  the 
Confraternity  of  the  Most  Holy  Rosary , 
which  was  first  erected  at  Cologne  on  8 
September  in  the  year  1475,  Cologne,  1475. 
Sprenger  may  well  be  called  the 
Apostle  of  the  Rosary”.  None  more 
fervent  than  he  in  spreading  this 
Dominican  elevation.  His  zeal  enrolled 
thousands,  including  the  Emperor  Fred¬ 
erick  III,  in  the  Confraternity  of  the 
Most  Holy  Rosary,  which  was  enriched 
with  many  indulgences  by  a  Bull  of 
Sixtus  IV.  It  has  been  observed  that  the 
writings  of  Father  James  Sprenger  on 
the  Rosary  are  well  approved  by  many 
learned  men,  Pontiffs,  Saints  and  Theo¬ 
logians  alike.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  Sprenger  was  a  mystic  of  the  high¬ 
est  order,  a  man  of  most  saintly  life. 

The  Dominican  chroniclers,  such  as 
Quetif  and  Echard,  number  Kramer 
and  Sprenger  among  the  glories  and 
heroes  of  their  Order. 

Certain  it  is  that  the  Malleus  Malefi¬ 
carum  is  the  most  solid,  the  most  impor¬ 
tant  work  in  the  whole  vast  library  of 
witchcraft.  One  turns  to  it  again  and 
again  with  edification  and  interest. 
From  the  point  of  psychology,  from  the 
point  of  jurisprudence,  from  the  point 
of  history,  it  is  supreme.  It  is  hardly  too 
much  to  say  that  later  writers,  great  as 
they  are,  have  done  little  more  than 
draw  from  the  seemingly  inexhaustible 
wells  of  wisdom  which  the  two  Domini¬ 
cans,  Heinrich  Kramer  and  James 
Sprenger,  have  given  us  in  the  Malleus 
Maleficarum. 


B 


XVI 


INTRODUCTION 


What  is  most  surprising  is  the 
modernity  of  the  book.  There  is  hardly 
a  problem,  a  complex,  a  difficulty, 
which  they  have  not  foreseen,  and 
discussed,  and  resolved. 

Here  are  cases  which  occur  in  the 
law-courts  to-day,  set  out  with  the 
greatest  clarity,  argued  with  unflinch¬ 
ing  logic,  and  judged  with  scrupulous 
impartiality. 

It  is  a  work  which  must  irresistibly 
capture  the  attention  of  all  men  who 


think,  all  who  see,  or  are  endeavouring 
to  see,  the  ultimate  reality  beyond  the 
accidents  of  matter,  time  and  space. 

The  Malleus  Maleficarum  is  one  of  the 
world's  few  books  written  sub  specie 
aeternitatis. 


Montague  Summers. 


7  October,  1946. 

In  Festo  SS .  Rosarii. 


NOTA. —  To  Dr.  //.  J.  Norman  I  wish  to  express  my  grateful  thanks  for  his  kindness  in 
having  read  through  the  proofs  of  the  Malleus  Maleficarum.  Those  who  realize  the  labour  and 
sacrifice  of  time  such  a  task  demands  will  best  appreciate  the  value  of  such  generous  assistance. 

M.S. 


A  NOTE  UPON  THE  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  MALLEUS  MALEFICARUM 

The  Bibliography  of  the  Malleus  Maleficarum  is  extremely  intricate  and 
difficult,  as  many  of  the  earlier  editions  both  folio  and  quarto  are  without  place 
or  date.  Thus  the  British  Museum  possesses  a  copy  (Press-Mark  I  B,  1606),  folio, 
which  in  the  catalogue  stands  as  ‘T485?”,  but  this  can  hardly  be  correct.  The 
British  Museum  has  five  editions  of  the  fifteenth  century:  4to,  1490?  (I  A  8634) ; 

folio,  1490  (IB  8615);  4to,  1494  (IA  7468) ;  folio,  1494  (IB  5064);  4to,  1496 
(IA  75^3)* ** 

Graesse,  Bibliotheca  Magica ,  Leipzig,  1843,  gives  the  editions  of  the  fifteenth 
century  as  Nuremberg,  both  4to  and  folio,  1494  and  1496.  He  also  mentions  an 
early  folio  and  an  early  4to  without  date  or  place.  He  further  records  a  4to 
published  at  Cologne  in  1489,  and  a  folio  published  at  Cologne,  1494. 

Malleus  Maleficarum ,  8vo,  Paris,  an  edition  to  which  the  British  Museum  cata¬ 
logue  assigns  the  date  “1510?”. 

Malleus  Maleficarum ,  8vo,  “Colonie.  Per  me  Henricu  de  Nussia,”  1511. 

Malleus  Maleficarum ,  8vo,  Coloniae ,  J.  Gymnicus,  1520.  (Copies  of  these  two 
Cologne  editions  are  in  the  British  Museum.) 

Malleus  Maleficarum  .  .  .  per  F.  Raffaelem  Majfeum  Venetum  et  D.  Jacobi  a  Judeca 
instituti  Seruorum  summo  studio  illustratus  et  a  multis  erroribus  vindicatus  .  .  .  Venetiis 
Ad  Candentis  Salamandrae  insigne.  MD.  LXXVI,  8vo.  (This  is  a  disappointing 
reprint,  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  in  what  consisted  the  editorial  care  of  the  Servite 
Raffaelo  Maffei,  who  may  or  may  not  have  been  some  relation  of  the  famous 
humanist  of  the  same  name  (d.  25  January,  1522),  and  who  was  of  the  monastery 
of  San  Giacomo  della  Guidecca.  He  might  have  produced  a  critical  edition  of  the 
greatest  value,  but  as  it  is  there  are  no  glosses,  there  is  no  excursus,  and  the  text 
is  poor.  For  example,  in  a  very  difficult  passage,  Principalis  Quaestio  II,  Pars  II, 
where  the  earliest  texts  read  “die  dominico  sotularia  iuuenum  fungia  .  .  .  perun¬ 
gunt,”  Venice,  1576,  has  “ die  dominica  solutaria  iuuenum  fungia . . .  perungunt.”) 

Malleus  Maleficarum,  Impressum  Francofurti  ad  Moenum  apud  Nicolaum 
Bassaeum  .  .  .  8vo,  1580. 

Malleus  Maleficarum,  .  .  .  Francofurti  .  .  .  apud  Nicolaum  Bassaeum  .  .  . 
8vo,  1582. 

Malleus  Maleficarum,  .  .  .  Francofurti  .  .  .  apud  Nicolaum  Bassaeum,  2  vols., 
8vo,  1588.  This  edition  also  contains  in  Vol.  I  extracts  from  Nider’s  Formicarius. 
Vo'l.  II,  which  is  dedicated  to  John  Mundzenberg,  Prior  of  the  Carmelite  House 
at  Frankfort,  contains  the  following  nine  Tractates : 

Bernard  Basin,  De  artibus  magicis.  (1482.) 

Ulrich  Molitor,  De  lamiis.  (1489.) 

Girolamo  Menghi,  O.S.F.C.,  Flagellum  Daemonum.  (1578.) 

John  Gerson,  De  probatione  Spirituum,  [circa  1404.) 

Thomas  Murner,  O.M.,  De  Pythonico  contractu.  (1499.) 

Felix  Hemmerlin,  De  exorcismis.  ( circa  1445.) 

Eiusdem,  De  credulitate  Daemonibus  adhibenda.  (1454.) 

Bartolomeo  Spina,  O.P.,  De  strigibus.  (1523.) 

Eiusdem,  Apologiae  III  aduersus  Ioann.  Franc.  Ponzinibium.  (1525.) 

The  title-page  announces  that  these  works  are  “Omnes  de  integro  nunc 
demum  in  ordinem  congestos,  notis  &  explicationibus  illustratos,  atque  ab 
innumeris  ^quibus  ad  nauseam  usque  scatebant  mendis  in  usum  communem 
uindicatos.”  It  is  true  that  the  earlier  editions  did  swarm  with  errors,  and  some  of 

*  Jules  Baissac,  “Les  grands  Jours  de  la  Sorcellerie ,”  1890,  p.  19,  says — I  do  not  know  on 

what  authority — “La  /re  edition  du  Malleus  Maleficarum ’  est  de  1489,  in  — 4,  Cologne ,  cinq  ans 
apres  la  publication  de  la  Bulle  Summis  desiderantes .” 


XVII 


XV111 


A  NOTE  UPON  THE  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


these  blemishes  have  been  duly  corrected,  but  there  still  remains  much  to  be  done 
in  the  way  of  emendation.  It  is  to  be  wished  that  even  the  litde  care  given  to 
Vol.  II  had  been  bestowed  on  the  text  of  the  Malleus  Maleficarum  in  Vol.  I,  for  this 
is  very  poor  and  faulty. 

Malleus  Maleficarum ,  Lyons,  8vo,  1595.  (Graesse.) 

Malleus  Maleficarum ,  Friburg,  1598. 

Malleus  Maleficarum ,  Lyons,  8vo,  1600. 

Malleus  Maleficarum ,  Lyons,  “multo  auctior,”  8vo,  1620. 

Malleus  Maleficarum ,  Friburg,  8vo,  1660. 

Malleus  Maleficarum ,  4to,  Lyons,  1666.  (Graesse.) 

Malleus  Maleficarum ,  4  vols.,  “sumptibus  Claudii  Bourgeat,”  4U),  Lyons,  1669. 
This  would  appear  to  be  the  latest  edition  of  the  Malleus  Maleficarum ,  and  the  text 
has  here  and  there  received  some  revision.  For  example,  in  the  passage  to  which 
reference  has  already  been  made,  Principalis  Quaestio  II,  Pars  II,  where  the  former 
reading  was  “sotularia  iuuenum  fungia  .  .  .  perungunt,”  we  have  the  correct 
“axungia”*  instead  of  “fungia.”  I  have  given  in  the  Introduction  a  list  of  the 
collections  contained  in  these  four  noble  volumes. 

Quetif-Echard,  Scriptores  Ordinis  Praedicatorum ,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1719,  Vol.  I, 
p.  881,  mention  a  French  translation  of  the  Malleus  Maleficarum ,  Le  Mail  let  des 
Sorcides,  as  having  been  published,  quarto,  at  Lyons  by  Stephanus  Gueynard.  No 
date,  however,  is  given,  and  as  this  book  cannot  be  traced,  it  seems  highly  probable 
that  one  of  the  many  Lyons  reprints  of  the  Malleus  Maleficarum  was  mistakenly 
supposed  to  be  a  French  rendering  of  the  original.  In  answer  to  my  inquiries 
M.  le  Directeur  of  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  has  kindly  informed  me:  “L’ouv- 
rage  de  Sprenger,  Le  Maillet  des  Sorderes,  edition  de  Lyon,  ne  se  trouve  point  a  la 
Bibliotheque  Nationale.  Mais,  de  plus,  je  me  suis  reporte  a  Fexcellente  biblio¬ 
graphic  lyonnaise  de  .Baudrier,  XI®  serie,  1914,  et  la  non  plus,  P  edition  de  Stephanus 
Gueynard  ne  se  trouve  point.”  Le  Maillet  des  Sorderes ,  4to,  Lyons,  by  Stephanus 
Gueynard,  does  not  occur  in  the  valuable  Essai  d'une  Bibliographic  Frangaise  meth - 
odique  et  raisonnee  de  la  Sorcellerie  of  R.  Yve-Plessis,  Paris,  1900. 

There  is  a  modern  German  translation  of  the  Malleus  Maleficarum  by 
J.  W.  R.  Schmidt,  Der  Hexenhammer ,  3  vols.,  Berlin,  1906;  second  edition, 
1922-3. 

In  1912  Oswald  Weigel,  the  famous  “Antiquariat  &  Auktions-Institut”  of 
Leipzig,  sold  an  exceptionally  fine,  if  not — should  it  be  once  permissible  to  use 
a  much  over-worked  word — a  unique  collection  of  books  dealing  with  witchcraft. 
This  Library  contained  no  fewer  than  twenty-nine  exemplars  of  the  Malleus 
Maleficarum ,  of  which  the  dates  were  catalogued  as  follows :  ( 1 )  Argentorati 
(Strasburg),  J.  Priiss,  ca.  1487.  (2)  Spirae,  Peter  Drach,  ca.  1487.  (3)  Spirae, 
Peter  Drach,  ca.  1490;  or  Basle,  J.  von  Amorbach,  ca.  1490?.  (4)  No  place  nor 
date.  With  inscription  “Codex  moasterij  seti  Martini  prope  Treuirim.”  (5)  Koln, 
J.  Koelhoff,  1494.  (6)  Nurnberg,  Anton  Koberger,  1494.  (7)  Niimberg,  Anton 
Koberger,  1496.  (8)  [Paris],  Jehan  Petit,  ca.  1497.  (9)  Coin,  Henricus  de  Nussia, 
1511.  (10)  [Paris,  Jehan  Petit,  no  date.]  (11)  Lyon,  J.  Marion,  1519.  (12)  Nurn¬ 
berg,  Frederick  Peypus,  1519.  (13)  Koln,  J.  Gymnicus,  1520.  (14)  Venetiis,  Io. 
Antonius  Bertanus,  1574.  (15)  Venetiis,  ibid.,  1576.  (16)  Francofurti,  apud 
Nicolaum  Bassaeum,  1580.  (17)  Francofurti,  ibid.,  1582.  (18)  Lugduni,  apud 
Ioannam  Iacobi  Iuntae,  2  tomi,  1584.  In  this  edition  the  title  is  misprinted 
Malleus  Maleficorum.  (19)  Francofurti,  Sumptibus  Nicolai  Bassaei,  1588.  (20) 
Duplicate  of  19.  (21)  Lugduni,  Petri  Landry,  2  tomi,  1595.  (22)  Francofurti, 
Sumptibus  Nicolai  Bassaei,  2  tomi,  1600.  (23)  Lugduni,  Sumptibus  Petri  Landry, 
3  tomi,  1604.  (24)  Lugduni,  ibid.,  1614.  (25)  Lugduni,  ibid.,  1615.  (26)  Lug¬ 
duni,  Sumptibus  Clavdii  Landry,  3  tomi,  1620.  (27)  Lugduni,  3  tomi, 

1620-21.  (28)  Lugduni,  4  tomi,  1069.  (29)  The  modern  German  translation  of 
the  Malleus  Maleficarum  by  J.  W.  R.  Schmidt,  Der  Hexenhammer,  3  vols.,  Berlin, 
1906. 


*  Axis-ungo.  See  Palladius,  I,  xvii,  3.  Also  Vegetius,  “ De  Arte  Veterinaria ,”  IV,  x,  3  ; 
also  IV,  xii,  3. 


THE  BULL  OF  INNOCENT  VIII 

Innocent,  Bishop,  Servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  for  an  eternal 

remembrance. 

DESIRING  with  the  most  heartfelt  anxiety,  even  as  Our  Apostle- 
ship  requires,  that  the  Catholic  Faith  should  especially  m  this 
Our  day  increase  and  flourish  everywhere,  and  that  all  heretical 
depravity  should  be  driven  far  from  the  frontiers  and  bournes  of 
the  Faithful,  We  very  gladly  proclaim  and  even  restate  those  particular 
means  and  methods  whereby  Our  pious  desire  may  obtain  its  wished 
effect,  since  when  all  errors  are  uprooted  by  Our  diligent  avocation  as  by 
the  hoe  of  a  provident  husbandman,  a  zeal  for,  and  the  regular  observ¬ 
ance  of,  Our  holy  Faith  will  be  all  the  more  strongly  impressed  upon  the 
hearts  of  the  faithful. 

It  has  indeed  lately  come  to  Our  ears,  not  without  afflicting  Us  with 
bitter  sorrow,  that  in  some  parts  of  Northern  Germany,  as  well  as  in  the 
provinces,  townships,  territories,  districts,  and  dioceses  of  Mainz,  Cologne, 
Treves,  Salzburg,  and  Bremen,  many  persons  of  both  sexes,  unmindful  of 
their  own  salvation  and  straying  from  the  Catholic  Faith,  have  abandoned 
themselves  to  devils,  incubi  and  succubi,  and  by  their  incantations,  spells, 
conjurations,  and  other  accursed  charms  and  crafts,  enormities  and  horrid 
offences,  have  slain  infants  yet  in  the  mother’s  womb,  as  also  the  offspring 
of  cattle,  have  blasted  the  produce  of  the  earth,  the  grapes  of  the  vine, 
the  fruits  of  trees,  nay,  men  and  women,  beasts  of  burthen,  herd-beasts, 
as  well  as  animals  of  other  kinds,  vineyards,  orchards,  meadows,  pasture- 
land,  corn,  wheat,  and  all  other  cereals;  these  wretches  furthermore 
afflict  and  torment  men  and  women,  beasts  of  burthen,  herd-beasts,  as 
well  as  animals  of  other  kinds,  with  terrible  and  piteous  pains  and  sore 
diseases,  both  internal  and  external ;  they  hinder  men  from  performing 
the  sexual  act  and  women  from  conceiving,  whence  husbands  cannot 
know  their  wives  nor  wives  receive  their  husbands ;  over  and  above  this, 
they  blasphemously  renounce  that  Faith  which  is  theirs  by  the  Sacra¬ 
ment  of  Baptism,  and  at  the  instigation  of  the  Enemy  of  Mankind  they  do 
not  shrink  from  committing  and  perpetrating  the  foulest  abominations 
and  filthiest  excesses  to  the  deadly  peril  of  their  own  souls,  whereby  they 
outrage  the  Divine  Majesty  and  are  a  cause  of  scandal  and  danger  to  very 
many.  And  although  Our  dear  sons  Henry  Kramer  and  James  Sprenger, 
Professors  of  Theology,  of  the  Order  of  Friars  Preachers,  have  been  by 
Letters  Apostolic  delegated  as  Inquisitors  of  these  heretical  pravities, 
and  still  are  Inquisitors,  the  first  in  the  aforesaid  parts  of  Northern  Ger¬ 
many,  wherein  are  included  those  aforesaid  townships,  districts,  dioceses, 
and  other  specified  localities,  and  the  second  in  certain  territories  which 
lie  along  the  borders  of  the  Rhine,  nevertheless  not  a  few  clerics  and  lay  ?  ) 
folk  of  those  countries,  seeking  too  curiously  to  know  more  than  concerns 
them,  since  in  the  aforesaid  delegatory  letters  there  is  no  express  and 
specific  mention  by  name  of  these  provinces,  townships,  dioceses,  and 

xix 


XX 


THE  BULL  OF  INNOCENT  VIII 


districts,  and  further  since  the  two  delegates  themselves  and  the  abomina¬ 
tions  they  are  to  encounter  are  not  designated  in  detailed  and  particular 
j  fashion,  these  persons  are  not  ashamed  to  contend  with  the  most  unblush¬ 
ing  effrontery  that  these  enormities  are  not  practised  in  those  provinces, 
and  consequently  the  aforesaid  Inquisitors  have  no  legal  right  to  exercise 
their  powers  of  inquisition  in  the  provinces,  townships,  dioceses,  districts, 
and  territories,  which  have  been  rehearsed,  and  that  the  Inquisitors  may 
not  proceed  to  punish,  imprison,  and  penalize  criminals  convicted  of  the 
heinous  offences  and  many  wickednesses  which  have  been  set  forth. 
Accordingly  in  the  aforesaid  provinces,  townships,  dioceses,  and  districts, 
the  abominations  and  enormities  in  question  remain  unpunished  not 
without  open  danger  to  the  souls  of  many  and  peril  of  eternal  damnation. 

Wherefore  We,  as  is  Our  duty,  being  wholly  desirous  of  removing  all 
hindrances  and  obstacles  by  which  the  good  work  of  the  Inquisitors  may 
be  let  and  tarded,  as  also  of  applying  potent  remedies  to  prevent  the 
disease  of  heresy  and  other  turpitudes  diffusing  their  poison  to  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  many  innocent  souls,  since  Our  zeal  for  the  Faith  especially  incites 
us,  lest  that  the  provinces,  townships,  dioceses,  districts,  and  territories  of 
Germany,  which  We  have  specified,  be  deprived  of  the  benefits  of  the 
Holy  Office  thereto  assigned,  by  the  tenor  of  these  presents  in  virtue  of 
Our  Apostolic  authority  We  decree  and  enjoin  that  the  aforesaid  In¬ 
quisitors  be  empowered  to  proceed  to  the  just  correction,  imprisonment, 
and  punishment  of  any  persons,  without  let  or  hindrance,  in  every  way  as 
if  the  provinces,  townships,  dioceses,  districts,  territories,  yea,  even  the 
persons  and  their  crimes  in  this  kind  were  named  and  particularly  desig¬ 
nated  in  Our  letters.  Moreover,  for  greater  surety  We  extend  these  letters 
deputing  this  authority  to  cover  all  the  aforesaid  provinces,  townships, 
dioceses,  districts,  and  territories,  persons,  and  crimes  newly  rehearsed, 
and  We  grant  permission  to  the  aforesaid  Inquisitors,  to  one  separately  or 
to  both,  as  also  to  Our  dear  son  John  Gremper,  priest  of  the  diocese  of 
Constance,  Master  of  Arts,  their  notary,  or  to  any  other  public  notary, 
who  shall  be  by  them,  or  by  one  of  them,  temporarily  delegated  to  those 
provinces,  townships,  dioceses,  districts,  and  aforesaid  territories,  to  pro¬ 
ceed,  according  to  the  regulations  of  the  Inquisition,  against  any  persons 
of  whatsoever  rank  and  high  estate,  correcting,  mulcting,  imprisoning, 
punishing,  as  their  crimes  merit,  those  whom  they  have  found  guilty,  the 
penalty  being  adapted  to  the  offence.  Moreover,  they  shall  enjoy  a  full 
and  perfect  faculty  of  expounding  and  preaching  the  word  of  God  to  the 
faithful,  so  often  as  opportunity  may  offer  and  it  may  seem  good  to  them, 
in  each  and  every  parish  church  of  the  said  provinces,  and  they  shall 
freely  and  lawfully  perform  any  rites  or  execute  any  business  which  may 
appear  advisable  in  the  aforesaid  cases.  By  Our  supreme  authority  We 
grant  them  anew  full  and  complete  faculties. 

At  the  same  time  by  Letters  Apostolic  We  require  Our  venerable 
Brother,  the  Bishop  of  Strasburg,*  that  he  himself  shall  announce,  or  by 
some  other  or  others  cause  to  be  announced,  the  burthen  of  Our  Bull, 
which  he  shall  solemnly  publish  when  and  so  often  as  he  deems  it  neces¬ 
sary,  or  when  he  shall  be  requested  so  to  do  by  the  Inquisitors  or  by  one 
of  them.  Nor  shall  he  suffer  them  in  disobedience  to  the  tenor  of  these 
presents  to  be  molested  or  hindered  by  any  authority  whatsoever,  but  he 
shall  threaten  all  who  endeavour  to  hinder  or  harass  the  Inquisitors,  all 
who  oppose  them,  all  rebels,  of  whatsoever  rank,  estate,  position,  pre- 


*  Albrecht  von  Bayern ,  1478-1506. 


THE  BULL  OF  INNOCENT  VIII 


xxt 


eminence,  dignity,  or  any  condition  they  may  be,  or  whatsoever  privilege 
of  exemption  they  may  claim,  with  excommunication,  suspension,  inter¬ 
dict,  and  yet  more  terrible  penalties,  censures,  and  punishment,  as  may 
seem  good  to  him,  and  that  without  any  right  of  appeal,  and  if  he  will  he 
may  by  Our  authority  aggravate  and  renew  these  penalties  as  often  as  he 
list,  calling  in,  if  so  please  him,  the  help  of  the  secular  arm. 

Non  obstantibus  .  .  .  Let  no  man  therefore  .  .  .  But  if  any  dare  to 
do  so,  which  God  forbid,  let  him  know  that  upon  him  will  fall  the  wrath 
of  Almighty  God,  and  of  the  Blessed  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul. 

Given  at  Rome,  at  S.  Peter’s,  on  the  9  December  of  the  Year  of  the 
Incarnation  of  Our  Lord  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty-four,  in 
the  first  Year  of  Our  Pontificate. 


The  translation  of  this  Bull  is  reprinted  by  permission  from  “  The  Geography  of  Witchcraft,”  by 

Montague  Summers,  pp.  533-6  ( Kegan  Paul). 


. 


MALLEUS 
M  A  L  E  F  I  C 


ARUM 

THE  FIRST  PART  TREAT¬ 
ING  OF  THE  THREE  NECES¬ 
SARY  CONCOMITANTS  OF 
WITCHCRAFT,  WHICH  ARE 
THE  DEVIL,  A  WITCH,  AND 
THE  PERMISSION  OF 
ALMIGHTY  GOD 

☆ 

PART  I 

QUESTION  I 

Here  beginneth  auspiciously  the  first  part 
of  this  work.  Question  the  First. 

HETHER  the  belief  that 
there  are  such  beings  as 
witches  is  so  essential  a 
part  of  the  Catholic  faith 
that  obstinately  to  maintain  the  oppo¬ 
site  opinion  manifestly  savours  of 
heresy.  And  it  is  argued  that  a  firm 
belief  in  witches  is  not  a  Catholic 
doctrine :  see  chapter  26,  question  5, 
of  the  work  of  Episcopus.  Whoever 


believes  that  any  creature  can  be 
changed  for  the  better  or  the  worse, 
or  transformed  into  another  kind  or 
likeness,  except  by  the  Creator  of  all 
things,  is  worse  than  a  pagan  and  a 
heretic.  And  so  when  they  report  such 
things  are  done  by  witches  it  is  not 
Catholic,  but  plainly  heretical,  to 
maintain  this  opinion. 

Moreover,  no  operation  of  witchcraft 
has  a  permanent  effect  among  us.  And 
this  is  the  proof  thereof:  For  if  it  were 
so,  it  would  be  effected  by  the  opera¬ 
tion  of  demons.  But  to  maintain  that 
the  devil  has  power  to  change  human 
bodies  or  to  do  them  permanent  harm 
does  not  seem  in  accordance  with  the 
teaching  of  the  Church.  For  in  this 
way  they  could  destroy  the  whole  world, 
and  bring  it  to  utter  confusion. 

Moreover,  every  alteration  that  takes 
place  in  a  human  body — for  example, 
a  state  of  health  or  a  state  of  sickness — 
can  be  brought  down  to  a  question  of 
natural  causes,  as  Aristotle  has  shown 
in  his  7th  book  of  Physics.  And  the 
greatest  of  these  is  the  influence  of  the 
stars.  But  the  devils  cannot  interfere 
with  the  movement  of  the  stars.  This 
is  the  opinion  of  Dionysius  in  his  epistle 
to  S.  Polycarp.  For  this  alone  God  can 
do.  Therefore  it  is  evident  the  demons 


2 


MALLEUS 


Part.  I.  Question  i. 


cannot  actually  effect  any  permanent 
transformation  in  human  bodies ;  that 
is  to  say,  no  real  metamorphosis.  And 
so  we  must  refer  the  appearance  of  any 
such  change  to  some  dark  and  occult 
cause. 

And  the  power  of  God  is  stronger  than 
the  power  of  the  devil,  so  divine  works 
are  more  true  than  demoniac  operations. 
Whence  inasmuch  as  evil  is  powerful  in 
the  world,  then  it  must  be  the  work  of 
the  devil  always  conflicting  with  the 
work  of  God.  Therefore  as  it  is  un¬ 
lawful  to  hold  that  the  devil’s  evil  craft 
can  apparently  exceed  the  work  of  God, 
so  it  is  unlawful  to  believe  that  the 
noblest  works  of  creation,  that  is  to  say, 
man  and  beast,  can  be  harmed  and 
spoiled  by  the  power  of  the  devil. 

Moreover,  that  which  is  under  the 
influence  of  a  material  object  cannot 
have  power  over  corporeal  objects. 
But  devils  are  subservient  to  certain 
influences  of  the  stars,  because  magicians 
observe  the  course  of  certain  stars  in 
order  to  evoke  the  devils.  Therefore 
they  have  not  the  power  of  effecting  any 
change  in  a  corporeal  object,  and  it 
follows  that  witches  have  even  less 
power  than  the  demons  possess. 

For  devils  have  no  power  at  all  save 
by  a  certain  subtle  art.  But  an  art 
cannot  permanently  produce  a  true 
form.  (And  a  certain  author  says : 
Writers  on  Alchemy  know  that  there  is 
no  hope  of  any  real  transmutation.) 
Therefore  the  devils  for  their  part, 
making  use  of  the  utmost  of  their  craft, 
cannot  bring  about  any  permanent 
cure — or  permanent  disease.  But  if 
these  states  exist  it  is  in  truth  owing  to 
some  other  cause,  which  may  be  un¬ 
known,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
operations  of  either  devils  or  witches. 

But  according  to  the  Decretals  (33) 
the  contrary  is  the  case.  “If  by  witch¬ 
craft  or  any  magic  art  permitted  by  the 
secret  but  most  just  will  of  God,  and 
aided  by  the  power  of  the  devil,  etc. . . .” 
The  reference  here  is  to  any  act  of 
witchcraft  which  may  hinder  the  end 
of  marriage,  and  for  this  impediment 
to  take  effect  three  things  can  concur, 
that  is  to  say,  witchcraft,  the  devil,  and 
the  permission  of  God.  Moreover,  the 
stronger  can  influence  that  which  is  less 
strong.  But  the  power  of  the  devil  is 
stronger  than  any  human  power  {Job 
xl).  There  is  no  power  upon  earth 
which  can  be  compared  to  him,  who 
was  created  so  that  he  fears  none. 


Answer.  Here  are  three  heretical 
errors  which  must  be  met,  and  when 
they  have  been  disproved  the  truth  will 
be  plain.  For  certain  writers,  pretending 
to  oase  their  opinion  upon  the  words  of 
S.  Thomas  (iv,  24)  when  he  treats  of 
impediments  brought  about  by  magic 
charms,  have  tried  to  maintain  that 
there  is  not  such  a  thing  as  magic,  that 
it  only  exists  in  the  imagination  of  those 
men  who  ascribe  natural  effects,  the 
causes  whereof  are  not  known,  to  witch¬ 
craft  and  spells.  There  are  others  who 
acknowledge  indeed  that  witches  exist, 
but  they  declare  that  the  influence  of 
magic  and  the  effects  of  charms  are 
purely  imaginary  ana  phantasmical. 
A  third  class  of  writers  maintain  that 
the  effects  said  to  be  wrought  by  magic 
spells  are  altogether  illusory  and  fanci¬ 
ful,  although  it  may  be  that  the  devil 
does  really  lend  his  aid  to  some  witch. 

The  errors  held  by  each  one  of  these 
persons  may  thus  be  set  forth  and  thus 
confuted.  For  in  the  very  first  place 
they  are  shown  to  be  plainly  heretical 
by  many  orthodox  writers,  and  especi¬ 
ally  by  S.  Thomas,  who  lays  down  that 
such  an  opinion  is  altogether  contrary 
to  the  authority  of  the  saints  and  is 
founded  upon  absolute  infidelity.  Be¬ 
cause  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Scrip¬ 
tures  says  that  devils  have  power  over  the 
bodies  and  over  the  minds  of  men,  when 
God  allows  them  to  exercise  this  power, 
as  is  plain  from  very  many  passages 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Therefore 
those  err  who  say  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  witchcraft,  but  that  it  is  purely 
imaginary,  even  although  they  do  not 
believe  that  devils  exist  except  in  the 
imagination  of  the  ignorant  and  vulgar, 
and  the  natural  accidents  which  happen 
to  a  man  he  wrongly  attributes  to 
some  supposed  devil.  For  the  imagina¬ 
tion  of  some  men  is  so  vivid  that  they 
think  they  see  actual  figures  and  appear¬ 
ances  which  are  but  the  reflection  of  their 
thoughts,  and  then  these  are  believed 
to  be  the  apparitions  of  evil  spirits  or 
even  the  spectres  of  witches.  But  this  is 
contrary  to  the  true  faith,  which  teaches 
us  that  certain  angels  fell  from  heaven 
and  are  now  devils,  and  we  are  bound 
to  acknowledge  that  by  their  very 
nature  they  can  do  many  wonderful 
things  which  we  cannot  do.  And  those 
who  try  to  induce  others  to  perform 
such  evil  wonders  are  called  witches. 
And  because  infidelity  in  a  person  who 
has  been  baptized  is  technically  called 


Part  I.  Question  i. 


MALEFICARUM 


3 


heresy,  therefore  such  persons  are 
plainly  heretics. 

As  regards  those  who  hold  the  other 
two  errors,  those,  that  is  to  say,  who  do 
not  deny  that  there  are  demons  and 
that  demons  possess  a  natural  power, 
but  who  differ  among  themselves  con¬ 
cerning  the  possible  effects  of  magic  and 
the  possible  operations  of  witches:  the 
one  school  holding  that  a  witch  can 
truly  bring  about  certain  effects,  yet 
these  effects  are  not  real  but  phantas- 
tical,  the  other  school  allowing  that 
some  real  harm  does  befall  the  person  or 
persons  injured,  but  that  when  a  witch 
imagines  this  damage  is  the  effect  of 
her  arts  she  is  grossly  deceived.  This 
error  seems  to  be  based  upon  two  pas¬ 
sages  from  the  Canons  where  certain 
women  are  condemned  who  falsely 
imagine  that  during  the  night  they  ride 
abroad  with  Diana  or  Herodias.*  This 
may  be  read  in  the  Canon.  Yet  because 
such  things  often  happen  by  illusion 

*  “ Diana  or  Herodias”  This  decree ,  which 
was  often  attributed  to  a  General  Council  of 
Ancyra,  but  which  is  now  held  to  be  of  a  later 
date ,  was  in  any  case  authoritative,  since  it 
passed  into  the  “De  ecclesiasticis  disciplinis ” 
ascribed  to  Regino  of  Prum  ( 906 ),  and  thence  to 
the  canonists  S.  Ivo  of  Chartres  and  Johannes 
Gratian.  Section  364  of  the  Benedictine  Abbot’s 
work  relates  that  “ certain  abandoned  women 
turning  aside  to  follow  Satan,  being  seduced  by 
the  illusions  and  phantasms  of  demons,  believe 
and  openly  profess  that  in  the  dead  of  night  they 
ride  upon  certain  beasts  with  the  pagan  goddess 
Diana  and  a  countless  horde  of  women,  and  that 
in  these  silent  hours  they  fly  over  vast  tracks  of 
country  and  obey  her  as  their  mistress,  while  on 
other  nights  they  are  sullen  to  pay  her  homage .” 
John  of  Salisbury,  who  died  in  1180,  in  his 
“ Policraticus ,”  I,  xvii,  speaks  of  the  popular  be¬ 
lief  in  a  witch-queen  named  Herodias,  who 
called  together  the  sorcerers  to  meeting  at  night. 
In  a  MS.,  “De  Sortilegis ,”  the  following  passage 
occurs:  “  We  next  inquire  concerning  certain 
wicked  crones  who  believe  and  profess  that  in  the 
night-time  they  ride  abroad  with  Diana,  the 
heathen  goddess,  ’or  else  with  Herodias,  and  an 
innumerable  host  of  women,  upon  certain  beasts, 
and  that  in  a  silent  covey  at  the  dead  of  night 
they  pass  over  immense  distances,  obeying  her 
commands  as  their  mistress,  and  that  they  are 
summoned  by  her  on  appointed  nights,  and  they 
declare  that  they  have  the  power  to  change 
human  beings  for  better  or  for  worse,  ay,  even 
to  turn  them  into  some  other  semblance  or  shape. 
Concerning  such  women  I  answer  according  to 
the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Alexandria,  that 
the  minds  of  the  faithful  are  disordered  by  such 
fantasies  owing  to  the  inspiration  of  no  good 
spirit  but  of  the  devil.” 


and  merely  in  the  imagination,  those 
who  suppose  that  all  the  effects  of 
witchcraft  are  mere  illusion  and  im¬ 
agination  are  very  greatly  deceived. 
Secondly,  with  regard  to  a  man  who 
believes  or  maintains  that  a  creature 
can  be  made,  or  changed  for  better  or 
for  worse,  or  transformed  into  some 
other  kind  or  likeness  by  anyone  save  by 
God,  the  Creator  of  all  things,  alone,  is 
an  infidel  and  worse  than  a  heathen. 
Wherefore  on  account  of  these  words 
“  changed  for  the  worse  ”  they  say  that 
such  an  effect  if  wrought  by  witchcraft 
cannot  be  real  but  must  be  purely 
phantastical. 

But  inasmuch  as  these  errors  savour 
of  heresy  and  contradict  the  obviops 
meaning  of  the  Canon,  we  will  first 
prove  our  points  by  the  divine  law,  as 
also  by  ecclesiastical  and  civil  law,  and 
first  in  general. 

To  commence,  the  expressions  of  the 
Canon  must  be  treated  of  in  detail 
(although  the  sense  of  the  Canon  will 
be  even  more  clearly  elucidated  in  the 
following  question).  For  the  divine  law 
in  many  places  commands  that  witches 
are  not  only  to  be  avoided,  but  also  they 
are  to  be  put  to  death,  and  it  would  not 
impose  the  extreme  penalty  of  this  kind 
if  witches  did  not  really  and  truly  make 
a  compact  with  devils  in  order  to  bring 
about  real  and  true  hurts  and  harms. 
For  the  penalty  of  death  is  not  inflicted 
except  for  some  grave  and  notorious 
crime,  but  it  is  otherwise  with  death  of 
the  soul,  which  can  be  brought  about 
by  the  power  of  a  phantastical  illusion 
or  even  by  the  stress  of  temptation. 
This  is  the  opinion  of  S.  Thomas  when 
he  discusses  whether  it  be  evil  to  make 
use  gf  the  help  of  devils  (ii.  7).  For  in 
the  1 8th  chapter  of  Deuteronomy  it  is 
commanded  that  all  wizards  and 
charmers  are  to  be  destroyed.  Also  the 
19th  chapter  of  Leviticus  says  :  The 
soul  which  goeth  to  wizards  and  sooth¬ 
sayers  to  commit  fornication  with  them, 

I  will  set  my  face  against  that  soul,  and 
destroy  it  out  of  the  midst  of  my  people. 
And  again,  20 :  A  man,  or  woman,  in 
whom  there  is  a  pythonical  or  divining 
spirit  dying,  let  them  die:  they  shall 
stone  them.  Those  persons  are  said  to 
be  pythons  in  whom  the  devil  works 
extraordinary  things. 

Moreover,  this  must  be  borne  in 
mind,  that  on  account  of  this  sin 
Ochozias  fell  sick  and  died,  IV.  Kings  1. 
Also  Saul,  1  Paralipomenon ,  10.  We  have, 


4 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  i. 


moreover,  the  weighty  opinions  of  the 
Fathers  who  have  written  upon  the 
scriptures  and  who  have  treated  at 
length  of  the  power  of  demons  and  of 
magic  arts.  The  writings  of  many 
doctors  upon  Book  2  of  the  Sentences 
may  be  consulted,  and  it  will  be  found 
that  they  all  agree,  that  there  are 
\  wizards  and  sorcerers  who  by  the  power 
of  the  devil  can  produce  real  and  ex- 

E Drdinary  effects,  and  these  effects 
not  imaginary,  and  God  permits 
tmrtobe.  I  will  Hot  mention  those  very 
many  other  places  where  S.  Thomas  in 
great  detail  discusses  operations  of  this 
kind.  As,  for  example,  in  his  Summa 
contra  Gentiles ,  Book  3,  c.  1  and  2,  in  part 
one,  question  114,  argument  4.  And  in 
the  Second  of  the  Second ,  questions  92  and 
94.  We  may  further  consult  the  Com¬ 
mentators  and  the  Exegetes  who  have 
written  upon  the  wise  men  and  the 
magicians  of  Pharao,  Exodus  vii.  We 
may  also  consult  what  S.  Augustine  says 
in  The  City  of  God*  Book  18,  c.  17.  See 
further  his  second  book  On  Christian 
Doctrine .f  Very  many  other  doctors 
advance  the  same  opinion,  and  it  would 
be  the  height  of  folly  for  any  man  to 
contradict  all  these,  and  he  could  not 
be  held  to  be  clear  of  the  guilt  of  heresy. 
For  any  man  who  gravely  errs  in  an 
exposition  of  Holy  Scripture  is  rightly 
considered  to  be  a  heretic.  And  who¬ 
soever  thinks  otherwise  concerning  these 
matters  which  touch  the  faith  that  the 
Holy  Roman  Church  holds  is  a  heretic. 
There  is  the  Faith. 

That  to  deny  the  existence  of  witches 
is  contrary  to  the  obvious  sense  of  the 
Canon  is  shown  by  ecclesiastical  law. 
For  we  have  the  opinions  of  the  com¬ 
mentators  on  the  Canon  which  com¬ 
mences:  If  anyone  by  magic  arts  or 
witchcraft  .  .  .  And  again,  there  are 
those  writers  who  speak  of  men  im¬ 
potent  and  bewitched,  and  therefore  by 
this  impediment  brought  about  by 
witchcraft  they  are  unable  to  copulate, 
and  so  the  contract  of  marriage  is 
rendered  void  and  matrimony  in  their 
cases  has  become  impossible.  For  they 
say,  and  S.  Thomas  agrees  with  them, 


*  “  The  City  of  God.”  S.  Augustine's  great 
work  “De  Ciuitate  Dei”  was  written  413-26. 

t  “On  Christian  Doctrine .”  The  “ De  Doc¬ 
trina  Christiana”  was  originally  written  in  337, 
but  S.  Augustine  revised  his  work  with  addition 
in  427,  leaving  a  monument  of  hermeneutics. 


that  if  witchcraft  takes  effect  in  the 
event  of  a  marriage  before  there  has 
been  carnal  copulation,  then  if  it  is 
lasting  it  annuls  and  destroys  the  con¬ 
tract  of  marriage,  and  it  is  quite  plain 
that  such  a  condition  cannot  in  any 
way  be  said  to  be  illusory  and  the  effect: 
of  imagination. 

Upon  this  point  see  what  Blessed 
Henry  of  Segusio  J  has  so  fully  written 
in  his  Summa:  also  Godfrey  of  Fon¬ 
taines  §  and  S.  Raymond  of  Penafort,|| 
who  have  discussed  this  question  in 
detail  very  clearly,  not  asking  whether 
such  a  physical  condition  could  be 
thought  imaginary  and  unreal,  but 
taking  it  to  be  an  actual  and  proven 
fact,  and  then  they  lay  down  whether  it 


+  “ Blessed  Henry.”  Blessed  Henry  of 
Segusio ,  usually  called  Hostiensis ,  the  famous 
Italian  canonist  of  the  thirteenth  century ,  was 
born  at  Susa,  and  died  at  Lyons ,  23  October , 
1271.  After  a  most  distinguished  career,  on  4 
December,  1261,  he  became  Cardinal-Bishop  of 
Ostia  and  Velletri,  whence  his  name  Hostiensis. 
His  “ Summa  super  titulis  Decretalium ”  ( Stras - 
burg,  1312;  Cologne,  1612;  Venice,  1605), 
which  was  also  known  as  “ Summa  aurea,”  or 
“ Summa  archiepiscopi,”  since  it  was  written 
whilst  he  was  Archbishop  of  Embrun,  won  for  its 
author  the  title  “Monarcha  iuris,  lumen  lucidis¬ 
simum  Decretorum .”  One  portion  of  this  work, 
the  “Summa,  siue  Tractatus  de  poenitentia  et 
remissionibus,”  was  very  popular,  and  is  con¬ 
tinually  referred  to  as  of  high  authority.  The 
book  was  written  between  1230  and  1261. 

§  “Godfrey.”  Godfrey  of  Fontaines,  Doctor 
Venerandus,  scholastic  philosopher  and  theo¬ 
logian,  was  born  near  Liege  within  the  first  half 
of  the  thirteenth  century;  he  became  a  canon  of  his 
native  diocese ,  and  also  of  Paris  and  Cologne. 
In  1300  he  was  elected  to  the  See  of  Tournai, 
which  he  declined.  During  the  last  quarter  of  the 
century  he  taught  theology  with  great  distinction 
at  the  University  of  Paris.  His  vast  work,  “XIV 
Qiiodlibeta,”  which  in  manuscript  was  exten¬ 
sively  studied  in  the  mediaeval  schools,  has 
recently  been  published  for  the  first  time  with  an 
ample  commentary. 

|j  “S.  Raymond.”  One  of  the  most  dis¬ 
tinguished  names  of  the  Dominican  Order. 
Born  in  1175,  he  professed  Canon  law  at 
Barcelona  and  Bologna.  At  the  request  of  his 
superiors  he  published  his  “Summa  Casuum ,”  of 
which  several  editions  appeared  in  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries.  His  reputation  as  a 
jurist  was  so  great  that  in  1230  he  was  called  to 
Rome  by  Gregory  IX,  who  directed  him  to  re¬ 
arrange  and  codify  the  ecclesiastical  canons. 
Having  completed  the  work,  he  refused  all 
honours ,  and  returned  to  Spain.  He  died  at 
Barcelona,  6  January,  1273.  FftV  feast  is 
celebrated  on  23  January. 


Part  I.  Question  i. 


MALEFICARUM 


5 


is  to  be  treated  as  a  lasting  or  temporary 
infirmity  if  it  continued  for  more  than 
the  space  of  three  years,  and  they  do  not 
doubt  that  it  may  be  brought  about  by 
the  power  of  witchcraft,  although  it  is 
true  that  this  condition  may  be  inter¬ 
mittent.  But  what  is  a  fact  beyond  dis- 
ute  is  that  such  impotency  can  be 
rought  about  through  the  power  of  the 
devil  by  means  of  a  contract  made  with 
him,  or  even  by  the  devil  himself  with¬ 
out  the  assistance  of  any  witch,  al¬ 
though  this  most  rarely  happens  in  the 
Church,  since  marriage  is  a  most  ex¬ 
cellent  sacrament.  But  amongst  Pagans 
this  actually  does  happen,  and  this 
is  because  evil  spirits  act  as  if  they  had 
a  certain  legitimate  dominion  over 
them,  as  Peter  of  Palude*  in  his  fourth 
book  relates,  when  he  tells  of  the  young 
man  who  had  pledged  himself  in  wed¬ 
lock  to  a  certain  idol,  and  who  never¬ 
theless  contracted  marriage  with  a 
young  maiden,  but  he  was  unable  to 
have  any  connexion  with  her  because 
the  devil  always  intervened,  actually 
appearing  in  bodily  form.  But  never¬ 
theless  in  the  Church  the  devil  prefers 
to  operate  through  the  medium  of 
witches  and  to  bring  about  such  effects 
for  his  own  gain,  that  is  to  say,  for  the 
loss  of  souls.  And  in  what  manner  he  is 
able  to  do  this,  and  by  what  means, 
will  be  discussed  a  little  later,  where  we 
shall  treat  of  the  seven  ways  of  doing 
harm  to  men  by  smuIaF^perations. 
And  of  the  other  questions  which 
Theologians  and  Canonists  have  raised 
with  reference  to  these  points,  one  is 
very  important,  since  they  discuss  how 
such  impotence  can  be  cured  and 
whether  it  is  permissible  to  cure  it  by 
some  counter-charm,  and  what  is  to  be 
done  if  the  witch  who  cast  the  spell  is 
dead,  a  circumstance  of  which  Godfrey 
of  Fontaines  treats  in  his  Summa .  And 
these  questions  will  be  amply  elucidated 
in  the  Third  Part  of  this  work. 

This  then  is  the  reason  why  the 
Canonists  have  so  carefully  drawn  up  a 
table  of  the  various  differing  penalties, 
making  a  distinction  between  the 
private  and  open  practice  of  witchcraft, 
or  rather  of  divination,  since  this  foul 
superstition  has  various  species  and 


*  “ Peter  of  Palude .”  Peter  of  Palude,  who 
died  1342,  of  the  Order  of  S.  Dominic ,  was  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  Thomistic  theologians 
during  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century. 


degrees,  so  that  anyone  who  is  notori¬ 
ously  given  to  it  must  be  refused  Com¬ 
munion.  If  it  be  secretly  practised  the 
culprit  must  do  penance  for  forty  days. 
And  if  he  be  a  cleric  he  is  to  be  sus¬ 
pended  and  confined  in  a  monastery. 
If  he  be  a  layman  he  shall  be  excom¬ 
municated,  wherefore  all  such  in-/ 
famous  persons  must  be  punished,  to¬ 
gether  with  all  those  who  resort  to 
them,  and  no  excuse  at  all  is  to  be 
allowed. 

The  same  penalty  too  is  prescribed  by 
the  civil  law.  For  Azo,f  in  his  Summa 
upon  Book  9  of  the  Codex,  the  rubric 
concerning  sorcerers,  2  after  the  lex  Cor¬ 
nelia, %  concerning  assassins  and  mur¬ 
derers,  lays  down :  Let  it  be  known  that 
all  those  who  are  commonly  called 
sorcerers,  and  those  too  who  are  skilled 
in  the  art  of  divination,  incur  the 
penalty  of  death.  The  same  penalty  is 
enforced  yet  again.  For  this  is  the  exact 
sentence  of  these  laws :  It  is  unlawful  for 
any  man  to  practise  divination ;  and  if 
he  does  so  his  reward  shall  be  death  by 
the  sword  of  the  executioner.  There  are 
others  too  who  by  their  magic  charms 
endeavour  to  take  the  lives  of  innocent 
people,  who  turn  the  passions  of  women 
to  lusts  ol  every  kind,  and  these 
criminals  are  to  be  thrown  to  the  wild 
beasts.  And  the  laws  allow  that  any  ) 
witness  whatsoever  is  to  be  admitted  as 
evidence  against  them.  This  the  Canon 
treating  of  the  defence  of  the  Faith 

f  “Ago.”  Early  in  the  thirteenth  century 
Portius  Ago  stood  at  the  head  of  the  Bolognese 
school  of  law  which  was  accomplishing  the 
resuscitation  of  the  classical  Roman  law.  He  was 
the  pupil  of  the  celebrated  Johannes  Bassianus, 
and  his  fame  so  eclipsed  all  his  contemporaries 
that  in  1203  Thomas  of  Marlborough,  after¬ 
wards  Abbot  of  Evesham,  spent  six  months  at 
Bologna  hearing  his  lectures  every  day.  Ago  was 
saluted  as  “ Master  of  all  the  Masters  of  the 
laws,”  and  the  highest  praise  that  could  be  given 
another  canonist  was  to  declare  him  to  be 
“ second  only  to  Ago.”  Savigrey  says  that  Ago 
was  alive  as  late  as  1230.  His  chief  work  is  a 
“Summa”  of  the  first  nine  books  of  the  Code ,  to 
which  he  added  a  “Summa”  of  the  Institutes. 
No  less  than  thirty-one  editions  appeared 
between  1482  and  1610;  of  which  five  are 
earlier  than  1300.  Throughout  the  Middle  Ages 
these  treatises  were  in  highest  repute. 

J  “Lex  Cornelia.”  De  Sicariis  et  Ueneficis. 
Passed  circa  81  b.c.  This  law  dealt  with 
incendiarism  as  well  as  open  assassination  and 
poisoning,  and  laid  down  penalties  for  accessories 
to  the  fact. 


6 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  i. 


explicitly  enjoins.  And  the  same  pro¬ 
cedure  is  allowable  in  a  charge  of  heresy. 
When  such  an  accusation  is  brought, 
any  witness  may  come  forward  to  give 
evidence,  just  as  he  may  in  a  case  of 
lese-majesty.  For  witchcraft  is  high 
treason  against  God’s  Majesty.  And  so 
j  they  are  to  be  put  to  the  torture  in  order 
to  make  them  confess.  Any  person, 
whatever  his  rank  or  position,  upon  such 
an  accusation  may  be  put  to  the  torture, 
and  he  who  is  found  guilty,  even  if  he 
confesses  his  crime,  let  him  be  racked, 
let  him  suffer  all  other  tortures  pre¬ 
scribed  by  law  in  order  that  he  may  be 
punished  in  proportion  to  his  offences. 

Note :  In  days  of  old  such  criminals 
suffered  a  double  penalty  and  were 
often  thrown  to  wild  beasts  to  be  de- 
\  voured  by  them.  Nowadays  they  are 
burnt  at  the  stake,  and  probably  this  is 
because  the  majority  of  them  are 
women. 

The  civil  law  also  forbids  any  con¬ 
niving  at  or  joining  in  such  practices, 
for  it  did  not  allow  a  diviner  even  to 
enter  another  person’s  house ;  and  often 
it  ordered  that  all  their  possessions 
should  be  burnt,  nor  was  anyone 
allowed  to  patronize  or  to  consult 
them ;  very  often  they  were  deported 
to  some  distant  and  deserted  island  and 
all  their  goods  sold  by  public  auction. 
Moreover,  those  who  consulted  or  re¬ 
sorted  to  witches  were  punished  with 
exile  and  the  confiscation  of  all  their 
property.  These  penalties  were  set  in 
operation  by  the  common  consent  of  all 
nations  and  rulers,  and  they  have 
greatly  conduced  to  the  suppression  of 
the  practice  of  such  forbidden  arts. 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  laws 
highly  commend  those  who  seek  to 
nullify  the  charms  of  witches.  And 
those  who  take  great  pains  that  the 
work  of  man  shall  not  be  harmed  by  the 
force  of  tempests  or  by  hailstorms  are 
worthy  of  a  great  reward  rather  than  of 
any  punishment.  How  such  damage 
may  lawfully  be  prevented  will  be  dis¬ 
cussed  in  full  below.  Accordingly,  how 
can  it  be  that  the  denial  or  frivolous 
contradiction  of  any  of  these  proposi¬ 
tions  can  be  free  from  the  mark  of  some 
notable  heresy?  Let  every  man  judge 
for  himself  unless  indeed  his  ignorance 
excuse  him.  But  what  sort  of  ignorance 
may  excuse  him  we  shall  very  shortly 
roceed  to  explain.  From  what  has 
een  already  said  we  draw  the  following 
conclusion:  It  is  a  most  certain  and 


most  Catholic  opinion  that  there  are 
sorcerers  and  witches  who  by  the  help  I 
of  the  devil,  on  account  of  a  compact 
which  they  have  entered  into  with  him, 
are  able,  since  God  allows  this,  to  pro¬ 
duce  real  and  actual  evils  and  harm, 
which  does  not  render  it  unlikely  that 
they  can  also  bring  about  visionary  and 
phantastical  illusions  by  some  extra¬ 
ordinary  and  peculiar  means.  The  scope 
of  the  present  inquiry,  however,  is 
witchcraft,  and  this  very  widely  differs 
from  these  other  arts,  and  therefore  a 
consideration  of  them  would  be  nothing 
to  the  purpose,  since  those  who  practise 
them  may  with  greater  accuracy  be 
termed  fortune-tellers  and  soothsayers 
rather  than  sorcerers. 

It  must  particularly  be  noticed  that 
these  two  last  errors  are  founded  upon 
a  complete  misunderstanding  of  the 
words  of  the  Canon  (I  will  not  speak  of 
the  first  error,  which  stands  obviously 
self-condemned,  since  it  is  clean  con¬ 
trary  to  the  teaching  of  Holy  Scripture) . 
And  so  let  us  proceed  to  a  right  under¬ 
standing  of  the  Canon.  And  first  we 
will  speak  against  the  first  error,  which 
says  that  the  mean  is  mere  illusion  al¬ 
though  the  two  extremes  are  realities. 

Here  it  must  be  noticed  that  there  are 
fourteen  distinct  species  which  come 
under  the  genus  superstition,  but 
these  for  the  sake  of  brevity  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  detail,  since  they  have  been 
most  clearly  set  out  by  S.  Isidore*  in  his 
Etymologiae ,  Book  8,  and  by  S.  Thomas 
in  his  Second  of  the  Second ,  question  92. 
Moreover,  there  will  be  explicit  men¬ 
tion  of  these  rather  lower  when  we  dis¬ 
cuss  the  gravity  of  this  heresy,  and  this 
will  be  in  the  last  question  of  our  First 
Part. 

The  category  in  which  women  of  this 
sort  are  to  be  ranked  is  called  the 
category  of  Pythons,  persons  in  or  by 
whom  the  devil  either  speaks  or  per- 

*  “St.  Isidore The  “Etymologiae ,”  or 
“ Origines ”  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  must  be 
regarded  as  the  most  important  and  best  known 
of  the  works  of  S.  Isidore  of  Seville,  born  circa 
560;  died  4  April,  636.  It  has  been  described  as 
“a  vast  storehouse  in  which  is  gathered,  systema - 
tized,  and  condensed,  all  the  learning  possessed  by 
that  time.”  Throughout  the  greater  part  of  the 
Middle  Ages  it  was  the  text-book  most  in  use  in 
educational  institutions.  Arevalo,  who  is  regarded 
as  the  most  authoritative  editor  of  S.  Isidore  (7 
vols.,  Rome,  1797-1803),  tells  us  that  it  was 
printed  no  less  than  ten  times  between  1470  and 
J529' 


Part  I.  Question  i. 


MALEFICARUM 


7 


forms  some  astonishing  operation,  and 
this  is  often  the  first  category  in  order. 
But  the  category  under  which  sorcerers 
come  is  called  the  category  of  Sorcerers. 

And  inasmuch  as  these  persons  differ 
greatly  one  from  another,  it  would  not 
be  correct  that  they  should  not  be 
comprised  in  that  species  under  which 
so  many  others  are  confined  :  Where¬ 
fore,  since  the  Canon  makes  explicit 
mention  of  certain  women,  but  does 
not  in  so  many  words  speak  of  witches ; 
therefore  they  are  entirely  wrong  who 
1  understand  the  Canon  only  to  speak  of 
imaginary  voyages  and  goings  to  and 
fro  in  the  body  and  who  wish  to  reduce 
every  kind  of  superstition  to  this 
illusion  :  for  as  those  women  are  trans¬ 
ported  in  their  imagination,  so  are 
witches  actually  and  bodily  trans- 
ported.  And  he  who  wishes  to  argue 
jj  fironi  this  Canon  that  the  effects  of 
j  witchcraft,  the  infliction  of  disease  or 
1  any  sickness,  are  purely  imaginary, 
utterly  mistakes  the  tenor  of  the  Canon, 
and  errs  most  grossly. 

Further,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  those 
who,  whilst  they  allow  the  two  extremes, 
that  is  to  say,  some  operation  of  the 
devil  and  the  effect,  a  sensible  disease, 
to  be  actual  and  real,  at  the  same  time 
deny  that  any  instrument  is  the  means 
thereof;  that  is  to  say,  they  deny  that 
any  witch  could  have  participated  in 
such  a  cause  and  effect,  these,  I  say,  err 
most  gravely:  for,  in  philosophy,  the 
mean  must  always  partake  of  the  nature 
of  the  two  extremes. 

Moreover  it  is  useless  to  argue  that 
any  result  of  witchcraft  may  be  a 
phantasy  and  unreal,  because  such  a 
phantasy  cannot  be  procured  without 
resort  to  the  power  of  the  devil,  and  it  is 
necessary  that  there  should  be  made  a 
contract  with  the  devil,  by  which  con¬ 
tract  the  witch  truly  and  actually  binds 
herself  to  be  the  servant  of  the  devil 
and  devotes  herself  to  the  devil,  and 
this  is  not  done  -in  any  dream  or  under 
any  illusion,  but  she  herself  bodily  and 
truly  co-operates  with,  and  conjoins 
herself  to,  the  devil.  For  this  indeed  is 
the  end  of  all  witchcraft;  whether  it 
be  the  casting  of  spells  by  a  look  or 
by  a  formula  of  words  or  by  some 
other  charm,  it  is  all  of  the  devil,  as 
will  be  made  clear  in  the  following 
question. 

In  truth,  if  anyone  cares  to  read  the 
words  of  the  Canon,  there  are  four 
points  which  must  particularly  strike 


him.  And  the  first  point  is  this:  It  is 
absolutely  incumbent  upon  all  crea¬ 
tures  and  Priests,  and  upon  all  who  have 
the  cure  of  souls,  to  teach  their  flocks 
that  there  is  one,  only,  true  God,  and 
that  to  none  other  in  Heaven  or  earth 
may  worship  be  given.  The  second 
point  is  this,  that  although  these  women 
imagine  they  are  riding  (as  they  think 
and  say)  with  Diana  or  with  Herodias, 
in  truth  they  are  riding  with  the  devil,  j 
who  calls  himself  by  some  such  heathen 
name  and  throws  a  glamour  before  their 
eyes.  And  the  third  point  is  this,  that 
the  act  of  riding  abroad  may  be  merely 
illusory,  since  the  devil  has  extra¬ 
ordinary  power  over  the  minds  of  those 
who  have  given  themselves  up  to  him, 
so  that  what  they  do  in  pure  imagina¬ 
tion,  they  believe  they  have  actually 
and  really  done  in  the  body.  And  the 
fourth  point  is  this :  Witches  have 
made  a  compact  to  obey  the  devil 
in  all  things,  wherefore  that  the  words 
of  the  Canon  should  be  extended  to 
include  and  comprise  every  act  of 
witchcraft  is  absurd,  since  witches  do 
much  more  than  these  women,  and 
witches  actually  are  of  a  very  different 
kind. 

Whether  witches  by  their  magic  arts 
are  actually  and  bodily  transported 
from  place  to  place,  or  whether  this 
merely  happens  in  imagination,  as  is 
the  case  with  regard  to  those  women 
who  are  called  Pythons,  will  be  dealt 
with  later  in  this  work,  and  we  shall 
also  discuss  how  they  are  conveyed. 

So  now  we  have  explained  two  errors 
at  least,  and  we  have  arrived  at  a 
clear  understanding  of  the  sense  of  the 
Canon. 

Moreover,  a  third  error,  which  mis¬ 
taking  the  words  of  the  Canon  says  that 
all  magic  arts  are  illusions,  may  be 
corrected  from  the  very  words  of  the 
Canon  itself.  For  inasmuch  as  it  says 
that  he  who  believes  any  creature  can 
be  made  or  transformed  for  the  better 
or  the  worse,  or  metamorphosed  into 
some  other  species  or  likeness,  save  it 
be  by  the  Creator  of  all  things  Him¬ 
self,  etc.  ...  he  is  worse  than  an 
infidel.  These  three  propositions,  if 
they  are  thus  understood  as  they  might 
appear  on  the  bare  face  of  them,  are 
clean  contrary  to  the  sense  of  Holy 
Scripture  and  the  commentaries  of  the 
doctors  of  the  Church.  For  the  follow-  t 
ing  Canon  clearly  says  that  creatures 
can  be  made  by  witches,  although  they  j 


8 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  i. 


necessarily  must  be  very  imperfect 
creatures,  and  probably  in  some  way 
deformed.  And  it  is  plain  that  the  sense 
of  the  Canon  agrees  with  what  S. 
Augustine  tells  us  concerning  the 
magicians  at  the  court  of  Pharao,  who 
turned  their  rods  into  serpents,  as  the 
holy  doctor  writes  upon  the  7th 
chapter  of  Exodus ,  ver.  1 1 ,  — and 
Pharao  called  the  wise  men  and  the 
magicians.  .  .  .  We  may  also  refer 

Ito  the  commentaries  of  Strabo,  who 
says  that  devils  hurry  up  and  down  over 
the  whole  earth,  when  by  their  incanta¬ 
tions  witches  are  employing  them  at 
various  operations,  and  these  devils  are 
able  to  collect  various  germs  or  seeds, 
and  from  these  germs  or  seeds  they  are 
able  to  cause  various  species  to  grow. 
We  may  also  refer  to  Blessed  Albertus 
Magnus,*  De  animalibus.  And  also  S. 
Thomas,  Part  1,  question  114,  article  4. 
For  the  sake  of  conciseness  we  will  not 
quote  them  at  length  here,  but  this 
I?  remains  proven,  that  it  is  possible  for 
i  certain  creatures  to  be  created  in  this 
way. 

With  reference  to  the  second  point, 
that  a  creature  may  be  changed  for 
better  or  for  worse,  it  is  always  to  be 
understood  that  this  can  only  be  done 
by  the  permission  and  indeed  by  the 
power  of  God,  and  that  this  is  only  done 
in  order  to  correct  or  to  punish,  but  that 
God  very  often  allows  devils  to  act  as 
His  ministers  and  His  servants,  but 
throughout  all  it  is  God  alone  who  can 

*  “ Blessed  Albertus ."  Albert  the  Great,  the 
Dominican  doctor,  scientist,  philosopher,  and 
theologian.  Born  circa  1206;  died  at  Cologne, 
/5  November,  1280.  He  is  called  “ the  Great " 
and  “ Doctor  Uniuer salis"  on  account  of  his 
extraordinary  genius  and  encyclopaedic  know¬ 
ledge,  for  he  surpassed  all  his  contemporaries  in 
every  branch  of  learning  cultivated  in  his  day. 
He  is  certainly  one  of  the  glories  of  the  Order  of 
Preachers.  Ulrich  Endelbert  speaks  of  him  as: 
"Uir  in  omni  scientia  adeo  diuinus,  ut  nostri 
temporis  stupor  et  miraculum  congrue  uocari 
possit ”  (“De  summo  bono,"  III,  iv).  Perhaps 
at  the  present  day  his  extraordinary  genius  is  not 
sufficiently  recognized,  for  he  was  certainly  one 
of  the  most  learned  men  of  all  time.  The  latest 
edition  of  his  complete  works ,  Paris  ( Louis 
Vives),  1890-99,  in  thirty-eight  quarto  volumes, 
was  published  under  the  direction  of  the  Abbe 
Auguste  Borgnet,  of  the  diocese  of  Reims.  “De 
animalibus"  will  be  found  in  Vols.  XI-XII. 
The  feast  of  Albertus  Magnus  is  celebrated  on 
/5  November.  He  was  beatified  by  Gregory  XV 
in  1622,  so  in  this  translation  I  call  him 
“ Blessed "  by  anticipation. 


afflict  and  it  is  He  alone  who  can  heal, 
for  “  I  kill  and  I  make  alive”  (Deuter¬ 
onomy  xxxii,  39).  And  so  evil  angels 
may  and  do  perform  the  will  of  God. 
To  this  also  S.  Augustine  bears  witness 
when  he  says:  There  are  in  truths 
magic  spells  and  evil  charms,  which  ■ 
not  only  often  afflict  men  with  diseases  ? 
but  even  kill  them  outright.  We  mustj 
also  endeavour  clearly  to  understand 
what  actually  happens  when  nowadays 
by  the  power  of  the  devil  wizards  and 
witches  are  changed  into  wolves  and 
other  savage  beasts.  The  Canon,  how-  4 
ever,  speaks  of  some  bodily  and  lasting 
change,  and  does  ndt  dlSciiss "  those 
extraordinary  things  which  may  be 
done  by  glamour  of  which  S.  Augustine 
speaks  in  the  18th  book  and  the  17th 
chapter  of  Of  the  City  of  God,  when  he 
reports  many  strange  tales  of  that ) 
famous  witch  Circe,  and  of  the  com-/ 
panions  of  Diomedes  and  of  the  father 
of  Praestantius.  This  will  be  discussed 
in  detail  in  the  Second  Part. 

Whether  it  be  a  Heresy  to  Maintain  that 
Witches  Exist. 

The  second  part  of  our  inquiry  is 
this,  whether  obstinately  to  maintain 
that  witches  exist  is  heretical.  The 
question  arises  whether  people  who 
hold  that  witches  do  not  exist  are  to  be 
regarded  as  notorious  heretics,  or 
whether  they  are  to  be  regarded  as 
gravely  suspect  of  holding  heretical 
opinions.  It  seems  that  the  first  opinion 
is  the  correct  one.  For  this  is  un¬ 
doubtedly  in  accordance  with  the 
opinion  of  the  learned  Bernard.  And 
yet  those  persons  who  openly  and 
obstinately  persevere  in  heresy  must  be 
proved  to  be  heretics  by  unshaken 
evidence,  and  such  demonstration  is 
generally  one  of  three  kinds;  either  a 
man  has  openly  preached  and  pro¬ 
claimed  heretical  doctrines ;  or  he  is 
proved  to  be  a  heretic  by  the  evidence 
of  trustworthy  witnesses ;  or  he  is 
proved  to  be  a  heretic  by  his  own  free 
confession.  And  yet  there  are  some  who 
rashly  opposing  themselves  to  all 
authority  publicly  proclaim  that 
witches  do  not  exist,  or  at  any  rate  that 
they  can  in  no  way  afflict  and  hurt 
mankind.  Wherefore,  strictly  speaking 
those  who  are  convicted  of  such  evil 
doctrine  may  according  to  the  com¬ 
mentary  of  Bernard  be  excommuni¬ 
cated,  since  they  are  openly  and  un- 


Part  I.  Question  i. 


MALEFICARUM 


9 


mistakably  to  be  convicted  of  false 
doctrine.  The  reader  may  consult  the 
works  of  Bernard,  where  he  will  find 
that  this  sentence  is  just,  right,  and  true. 
Yet  perhaps  this  may  seem  to  be  alto¬ 
gether  too  severe  a  judgement  mainly 
because  of  the  penalties  which  follow 
upon  excommunication :  for  the  Canon 
prescribes  that  a  cleric  is  to  be  degraded 
and  that  a  layman  is  to  be  handed  over 
to  the  power  of  the  secular  courts,  who 
are  admonished  to  punish  him  as  his 
offence  deserves.  Moreover,  we  must 
take  into  consideration  the  very  great 
numbers  of  persons  who,  owing  to  their 
ignorance,  will  surely  be  found  guilty 
\  of  this  error.  And  since  the  error  is  very 
common  the  rigor  of  strict  justice  may 
be  tempered  with  mercy.  And  it  is 
indeed  our  intention  to  try  to  make 
excuses  for  those  who  are  guilty  of  this 
heresy  rather  than  to  accuse  them  of 
being  infected  with  the  malice  of 
heresy.  It  is  preferable  then  that  if  a 
man  should  be  even  gravely  suspected 
of  holding  this  false  opinion  he  should 
not  be  immediately  condemned  for 
the  grave  crime  of  heresy.  (See  the 
gloss  of  Bernard*  upon  the  word  Con¬ 
demned.)  One  may  in  truth  proceed 
against  such  a  man  as  against  a  person 
who  is  gravely  suspect,  but  he  is  not  to 
be  condemned  in  his  absence  and  with¬ 
out  a  hearing.  And  yet  the  suspicion 
may  be  very  grave,  and  we  cannot 
refrain  from  suspecting  these  people, 
for  their  frivolous  assertions  do  cer¬ 
tainly  seem  to  affect  the  purity  of  the 
faith.  For  there  are  three  kinds  of 
suspicion — a  light  suspicion,  a  serious 
suspicion,  and  a  grave  suspicion.  These 
are  treated  of  in  the  chapter  on  Accusa¬ 
tions  and  in  the  chapter  on  Contumacy, 
Book  6,  On  Heretics.  And  these  things 
come  under  the  cognizance  of  the 
archidiaconal  court.  Reference  may 
also  be  made  to  the  commentaries  of 


*  “Bernard."  Junior ,  or  Modernus ,  a  canon¬ 
ist  who  lived  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  cen¬ 
tury, -called  “  Compos  tellanus'  ’  from  the  fact  that 
he  possessed  an  ecclesiastical  benefice  in  Compo- 
stella.  He  was  also  known  as  Brignadius  from 
his  birthplace  in  Galicia ,  Spain.  Bernard  was 
chaplain  to  Innocent  IV,  who  reigned  1243—54, 
and  was  himself  a  noted  canonist.  Bernard's 
Commentaries  on  Canon  law  are  very  copious  and 
very  celebrated.  He  is  termed  Modernus  to  dis¬ 
tinguish  him  from  Bernard  Antiquus ,  a  canonist 
of  the  early  thirteenth  century,  a  native  of 
Compostella,  who  became  Professor  of  Canon 
law  in  the  University  of  Bologna , 


Giovanni  d’ Andrea,  f  and  in  particular 
to  his  glosses  upon  the  phrases  Accused; 
Gravely  suspect ;  and  his  note  upon  a 
presumption  of  heresy.  It  is  certain 
too  that  some  who  lay  down  the  law 
on  this  subject  do  not  realize  that  they 
are  holding  false  doctrines  and  errors, 
for  there  are  many  who  have  no  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  Canon  law,  and  there  are 
some  who,  owing  to  the  fact  that  they 
are  badly  informed  and  insufficiently 
read,  waver  in  their  opinions  and 
cannot  make  up  their  minds,  and  since 
an  idea  merely  kept  to  oneself  is  not 
heresy  unless  it  be  afterwards  put 
forward,  obstinately  and  openly  main¬ 
tained,  it  should  certainly  be  said  that 
persons  such  as  we  have  just  mentioned 
are  not  to  be  openly  condemned  for 
the  crime  of  heresy.  But  let  no  man 
think  he  may  escape  by  pleading 
ignorance.  For  those  who  have  gone 
astray  through  ignorance  of  this  kind 
may  be  found  to  have  sinned  very 
gravely.  For  although  there  are  many 
degrees  of  ignorance,  nevertheless  those 
who  have  the  cure  of  souls  cannot  plead 
invincible  ignorance,  nor  that  par¬ 
ticular  ignorance,  as  the  philosophers 
call  it,  which  by  the  writers  on  Canon 
law  and  by  the  Theologians  is  called 
Ignorance  of  the  Fact.  But  what  is  to 
be  blamed  in  these  persons  is  Universal 
ignorance,  that  is  to  say,  an  ignorance 
of  the  divine  law,  which,  as  Pope 
Nicholas^  has  laid  down,  they  must  and 
should  know.  For  he  says :  The  dis¬ 
pensation  of  these  divine  teachings  is 
entrusted  to  our  charge:  and  woe  be 
unto  us  if  we  do  not  sow  the  good  seed, 
woe  be  unto  us  if  we  do  not  teach  our 
flocks.  And  so  those  who  have  the 
charge  of  souls  are  bound  to  have  a 
sound  knowledge  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 


|  “Giovanni  d’ Andrea."  This  distinguished 
canonist  was  born  at  Mugello,  near  Florence, 
about  1275;  died  1348.  He  was  educated  at  the 
University  of  Bologna,,  where  he  afterwards 
became  Professor  of  Canon  law.  He  had 
previously  taught  at  Padua  and  Pisa,  and  his 
career  as  a  lecturer  extended  for  nearly  half  a 
century.  His  works  are  “Glossarium  in  VI 
decretalium  librum ,"  Venice  and  Lyons,  1472; 
“Glossarium  in  Clementinas" ;  “ Nouella ,  siue 
Commentarius  in  decretales  epistolas  Gregarii 
IX,"  Venice,  1581;  “Mercuriales,  siue  com¬ 
mentarius  in  regulas  sexti";  “Liber  de  laudibus 
S.  Hieronymi ";  “Additamenta  ad  speculum 
Durand"  ( 1347 ). 

+  “Pope  Nicholas."  Nicholas  V,  1397-1455, 
the  great  patron  of  learning. 


IO 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  i. 


tures.  It  is  true  that  according  to 
Raymond  of  Sabunde*  and  S.  Thomas, 
those  who  have  the  cure  of  souls  are 
certainly  not  bound  to  be  men  of  any 
extraordinary  learning,  but  they  cer¬ 
tainly  should  have  a  competent  know¬ 
ledge,  that  is  to  say,  knowledge  sufficient 
to  carry  out  the  duties  of  their  state. 

And  yet,  and  this  may  be  some  small 
consolation  to  them,  the  theoretical 
severity  of  the  law  is  often  balanced  by 
the  actual  practice,  and  they  may  know 
that  this  ignorance  of  the  Canon  law, 
although  sometimes  it  may  be  culpable 
and  worthy  of  blame,  is  considered  from 
two  points  of  view.  For  sometimes 
persons  do  not  know,  they  do  not  wish 
to  know,  and  they  have  no  intention  of 
knowing.  For  such  persons  there  is  no 
excuse,  but  they  are  altogether  to  be 
condemned.  And  of  these  the  Psalmist 
speaks:  He  would  not  understand  in 
order  that  he  might  do  good.  But 
secondly,  there  are  those  who  are 
ignorant,  yet  not  from  any  desire  not 
to  know.  And  this  diminishes  the 
gravity  of  the  sin,  because  there  is  no 
actual  consent  of  the  will.  And  such  a 
case  is  this,  when  anyone  ought  to 
know  something,  but  cannot  realize 
that  he  ought  to  know  it,  as  S.  Paul 
says  in  his  ist  Epistle  to  Timothy  (i,  13) : 
But  I  obtained  the  mercy  of  God, 
because  I  did  it  ignorantly  in  unbelief. 
And  this  is  technically  said  to  be  an 
ignorance,  which  indirectly  at  least  is 
the  fault  of  the  person,  insomuch  as  on 
account  of  many  other  occupations  he 
neglects  to  inform  himself  of  matters 
which  he  ought  to  know,  and  he  does 
not  use  any  endeavour  ta  make  himself 
acquainted  with  them,  and  this  ignor¬ 
ance  does  not  entirely  excuse  him,  but 
it  excuses  him  to  a  certain  degree.  So 
S.  Ambrose,!  writing  upon  that  passage 


*  “ Raymond  of  Sabunde .”  Born  at  Bar¬ 
celona ,  Spain,  towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century;  died  1432.  From  1430  to  his  death  he 
taught  theology,  philosophy,  and  medicine  at  the 
University  of  Toulouse.  Of  his  many  works  only 
one  remains,  “ Theologia  Naturalis .”  It  was 
first  written  in  Spanish,  and  translated  into  Latin 
at  various  times:  Deventer,  1487;  Strasburg, 
1436;  Paris,  1503;  Venice,  1381,  etc.  Montaigne, 
who  translated  the  book  into  French,  Paris,  1363 , 
bears  witness  to  the  extraordinary  popularity  it 
enjoyed  in  his  own  day. 

I  “ S .  Ambrose .”  “On  disigne  depuis  le 
XV Ie  siecle  sous  le  nom  d' Ambrosiaster  (= 
pseudo-Ambroise )  Vauteur  anonyme  d'un  com¬ 
mentate  sur  les  Epitres  de  saint  Paul  {a  lex- 


in  the  Romans  (ii,  4) :  Knowest  thou 
not,  that  the  benignity  of  God  leadeth 
thee  to  penance?  says,  If  thou  dost  not 
know  through  thine  own  fault  then  thy 
sin  is  very  great  and  grievous.  More 
especially  then  in  these  days,  when  souls 
are  beset  with  so  many  dangers,  we 
must  take  measures  to  dispel  all  ignor¬ 
ance,  and  we  must  always  have  before 
our  eyes  that  severe  judgement  which 
will  be  passed  upon  us  if  we  do  not 
use,  everyone  according  to  his  proper 
ability,  the  one  talent  which  has  been 
given.  In  this  way  our  ignorance  will 
be  neither  thick  nor  stupid,  for  meta¬ 
phorically  we  speak  of  men  as  thick  and 
stupid  who  do  not  see  what  lies  directly 
in  their  very  way. 

And  in  the  Flores  regularum  moralium 
the  Roman  Chancellor  commenting 
upon  the  second  rule  says :  A  culpable 
ignorance  of  the  Divine  law  does  not 
of  necessity  affect  the  ignorant  person. 
The  reason  is  this:  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
able  directly  to  instruct  a  man  in  all 
that  knowledge  essential  to  salvation, 
if  these  things  are  too  difficult  for  him 
to  grasp  unaided  by  his  own  natural 
intellect. 

The  answer  to  the  first  objection  then 
is  a  clear  and  correct  understanding  of 
the  Canon.  To  the  second  objection 
Peter  of  Tarentaise  (Blessed  Innocent 
VJ)  replies:  No  doubt  the  devil,  owing 
to  his  malice  which  he  harbours  against 
the  human  race,  would  destroy  man¬ 
kind  if  he  were  allowed  by  God  to  do 
so.  The  fact  that  God  allows  him  some¬ 
times  to  do  harm  and  that  sometimes 
God  hinders  and  prevents  him,  mani¬ 
festly  brings  the  devil  into  more  open 
contempt  and  loathing,  since  in  all 


elusion  de  VEpitre  aux  Hibreux) ,  qui  au  moyen - 
age,  peut-etre  meme  des  Vepoque  de  Cassiodore , 
fut  impute  inexactement  a  saint  Ambroise. 
Cette  paraphrase  est  tout  a  fait  remarquable; 
Pest  rune  des  plus  intiressantes  que  Vantiquite 
chretienne  nous  ait  legumes.”  Labriolle,  “ His - 
toire  de  la  Litter ature  Latine  ChrUiennej  c.  III. 

{  “ Innocent  V .”  Petrus  a  Tarentasia,  born 
in  Tarentaise,  towards  1223,  elected  at  Arezzo , 
21  January,  1276;  died  at  Rome,  22  June,  1276. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  joined  the  Dominican 
Order,  and  he  won  great  distinction  as  a  Pro¬ 
fessor  at  the  University  of  Paris,  whence  he  is 
known  as  Doctor  Famosissimus.  He  is  the 
author  of  several  works  dealing  with  philosophy, 
theology,  and  Canon  law,  some  of  which  are  still 
unpublished.  The  principal  of  these  is  the  “  Com - 
mentary  on  the  Sentences  of  Peter  Lombard.”  I 
have  used  the  edition,  Toulouse  . 1632 . 


Part  I.  Question  i. 


MALEFICARUM 


ii 


things,  to  the  manifestation  of  His 
glory,  God  is  using  the  devil,  unwilling 
though  he  be,  as  a  servant  and  slave. 
With  regard  to  the  third  objection, 
that  the  infliction  of  sickness  or  some 
other  harm  is  always  the  result  of 
human  effort,  whereby  the  witch  sub¬ 
mits  her  will  to  evil,  and  so  actually 
as  any  other  evil-doer,  by  the  volition 
of  her  will  can  afflict  some  person  or 
bring  about  some  damage  or  perform 
some  villainous  act.  If  it  be  asked 
whether  the  movement  of  material 
objects  from  place  to  place  by  the  devil 
may  be  paralleled  by  the  movement  of 
the  spheres,  the  answer  is  No.  Because 
material  objects  are  not  thus  moved  by 
any  natural  inherent  power  of  their 
own,  but  they  are  only  moved  by  a 
certain  obedience  to  the  power  of  the 
devil,  who  by  the  virtue  of  his  own 
nature  has  a  certain  dominion  over 
bodies  and  material  things ;  he  has  this 
certain  power,  I  affirm,  yet  he  is  not 
able  to  add  to  created  material  objects 
any  form  or  shape,  be  it  substantial  or 
accidental,  without  some  admixture 
of  or  compounding  with  another  created 
natural  object.  But  since,  by  the  will  of 
God,  he  is  able  actually  to  move  material 
objects  from  place  to  place  then  by  the 
conjunction  of  various  objects  he  can 
produce  disease  or  some  circumstance 
such  as  he  will.  Wherefore  the  spells 
and  effects  of  witchcraft  are  not 
governed  by  the  movement  of  the 
spheres,  nor  is  the  devil  himself  thus 
governed,  inasmuch  as  he  may  often 
make  use  of  these  conditions  to  do  him 
service. 


The  answer  to  the  fourth  objection. 
The  work  of  God  can  be  destroyed  by 
the  work  of  the  devil  in  accordance 
with  what  we  are  now  saying  with 
reference  to  the  power  and  effects  of 
witchcraft.  But  since  this  can  only  be 
by  the  permission  of  God,  it  does  not  at 
all  follow  that  the  devil  is  stronger  than 
God.  Again,  he  cannot  use  so  much 
violence  as  he  wishes  to  harm  the  works 
of  God,  because  if  he  were  unrestricted 
he  would  utterly  destroy  all  the  works 
of  God. 

The  answer  to  the  fifth  objection  may 
be  clearly  stated  thus:  The  planets 
and  stars  have  no  power  to  coerce  and 
compel  devils  to  perform  any  actions 
against  their  will,  although  seemingly 
demons  are  readier  to  appear  when 
summoned  by  magicians  under  the 


influence  of  certain  stars.  It  appears 
that  they  do  this  for  two  reasons.  First, 
Because  they  know  that  the  power  of 
that  planet  will  aid  the  effect  which 
the  magicians  desire.  Secondly,  They  do 
this  in  order  to  deceive  men,  thus  mak¬ 
ing  them  suppose  that  the  stars  have 
some  divine  power  or  actual  divinity, 
and  we  know  that  in  days  of  old  this  j 
veneration  of  the  stars  led  to  the  vilest  { 
idolatry. 

With  reference  to  the  last  objection, 
which  is  founded  upon  the  argument 
that  gold  is  made  by  alchemists,  we 
may  put  forward  the  opinion  of  S. 
Thomas  when  he  discusses  the  power 
of  the  devil  and  "how  he  works :  Al¬ 
though  certain  forms  having  a  sub¬ 
stance  may  be  brought  about  by  art 
and  the  power  of  a  natural  agent,  as, 
for  example,  the  form  of  fire  is  brought 
about  by  art  employed  on  wood  : 
nevertheless,  this  cannot  be  done  uni¬ 
versally,  because  art  cannot  always 
either  find  or  yet  mix  together  the 
proper  agents  in  the  proper  propor¬ 
tions,  and  yet  it  can  produce  something 
similar.  And  thus  alchemists  make 
something  similar  to  gold,  that  is  to  say, 
in  so  far  as  the  external  accidents  are 
concerned,  but  nevertheless  they  do  not 
make  true  gold,  because  the  substance 
of  gold  is  not  formed  by  the  heat  of  fire 
which  alchemists  employ,  but  by  the 
heat  of  the  sun,  acting  and  reacting 
upon  a  certain  spot  where  mineral 
power  is  concentrated  and  amassed, 
and  therefore  such  gold  is  of  the  same 
likeness  as,  but  is  not  of  the  same 
species  as,  natural  gold.  And  the  same 
argument  applies  to  all  their  other 
operations. 

This  then  is  our  proposition:  devils'  ? 
by  their  art  do  bring  about  evil  effects 
through  witchcraft,  yet  it  is  true  that 
without  the  assistance  of  some  agent 
they  cannot  make  any  form,  either 
substantial  or  accidental,  and  we  do  not  j 
maintain  that  they  can  inflict  damage  ! 
without  the  assistance  of  some  agent,  but 
with  such  an  agent  diseases,  and  any 
other  human  passions  or  ailments,  can 
be  brought  about,  and  these  are  real 
and  true.  How  these  agents  or  how  the 
employment  of  such  means  can  be 
rendered  effective  in  co-operation  with  1 
devils  will  be  made  clear  in  the  follow-  J  | 
ing  chapters.  } 

☆ 


12 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  2. 


QUESTION  II 

IF  it  be  in  accordance  with  the 
Catholic  Faith  to  maintain  that  in 
order  to  bring  about  some  effect  of 
magic,  the  devil  must  intimately  co¬ 
operate  with  the  witch,  or  whether  one 
without  the  other,  that  is  to  say,  the 
devil  without  the  witch,  or  conversely, 
could  produce  such  an  effect. 

And  the  first  argument  is  this :  That 
the  devil  can  bring  about  an  effect  of 
magic  without  the  co-operation  of 
any  witch.  So  S.  Augustine  holds.  All 
things  which  visibly  happen  so  that  they 
can  be  seen,  may  (it  is  believed)  be  the 
work  of  the  inferior  powers  of  the  air. 
But  bodily  ills  and  ailments  are  cer¬ 
tainly  not  invisible,  nay  rather,  they  are 
evident  to  the  senses,  therefore  they  can 
be  brought  about  by  devils.  Moreover, 
we  learn  from  the  Holy  Scriptures  of 
the  disasters  which  fell  upon  Job,  how 
fire  fell  from  heaven  and  striking  the 
sheep  and  the  servants  consumed  them, 
and  how  a  violent  wind  threw  down  the 
four  corners  of  a  house  so  that  it  fell 
upon  his  children  and  slew  them  all. 
The  devil  by  himself  without  the  co¬ 
operation  of  any  witches,  but  merely  by 
God’s  permission  alone,  was  able  to 
bring  about  all  these  disasters.  Therefore 
he  can  certainly  do  many  things  which 
are  often  ascribed  to  the  work  of  witches. 

And  this  is  obvious  from  the  account 
of  the  seven  husbands  of  the  maiden 
Sara,  whom  a  devil  killed.  Moreover, 
whatever  a  superior  power  is  able  to  do, 
it  is  able  to  do  without  reference  to  a 
power  superior  to  it,  and  a  superior 
power  can  all  the  more  work  without 
reference  to  an  inferior  power.  But  an 
inferior  power  can  cause  hailstorms  and 
bring  about  diseases  without  the  help  of 
a  power  greater  than  itself.  For  Blessed 
Albertus  Magnus  in  his  work  De  pas - 
j  sionibus  aeris  *  says  that  rotten  sage,  if 
used  as  he  explains,  and  thrown  into 
running  water,  will  arouse  most  fearful 
tempests  and  storms. 

Moreover,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
devil  makes  use  of  a  witch,  not  because 
he  has  need  of  any  such  agent,  but 
because  he  is  seeking  the  perdition  of 
the  witch.  We  may  refer  to  what  Aris¬ 
totle  says  in  the  3rd  book  of  his  Ethics. 
Evil  is  a  voluntary  act  which  is  proved 

*  ‘  "De  passionibus . 5  ’  This  treatise  on  physical 
science  may  be  found  in  Vol.  IX.  of  Abbe  Borg- 
net's  edition  of  the  “ Opera  omnia." 


by  the  fact  that  nobody  performs  an 
unjust  action  merely  for  the  sake  of 
doing  an  unjust  action,  and  a  man  who 
commits  a  rape  does  this  for  the  sake  of 
pleasure,  not  merely  doing  evil  for  evil’s 
sake.  Yet  the  law  punishes  those  who 
have  done  evil  as  if  they  had  acted 
merely  for  the  sake  of  doing  evil. 
Therefore  if  the  devil  works  by  means 
of  a  witch  he  is  merely  employing  an 
instrument;  and  since  an  instrument 
depends  upon  the  will  of  the  person  who 
employs  it  and  does  not  act  of  its  own 
free  will,  therefore  the  guilt  of  the  action 
ought  not  to  be  laid  to  the  charge  of  the 
witch,  and  in  consequence  she  should 
not  be  punished. 

But  an  opposite  opinion  holds  that 
the  devil  cannot  so  easily  and  readily 
do  harm  by  himself  to  mankind,  as  he 
can  harm  them  through  the  instru¬ 
mentality  of  witches,  although  they  are 
his  servants.  In  the  first  place  we  may 
consider  the  act  of  generation.  But  for 
every  act  which  has  an  effect  upon 
another  some  kind  of  contact  must  be 
established,  and  because  the  devil,  who 
is  a  spirit,  can  have  no  such  actual  con¬ 
tact  with  a  human  body,  since  there  is 
nothing  common  of  this  kind  between 
them,  therefore  he  uses  some  human 
instruments,  and  upon  these  he  bestows 
the  power  of  hurting  by  bodily  touch. 
And  many  hold  this  to  be  proven  by  the 
text,  and  the  gloss  upon  the  text,  in  the 
3rd  chapter  of  S.  Paul’s  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians:  f  O  senseless  Galatians,  who 
hath  bewitched  you  that  you  should 
not  obey  the  truth?  And  the  gloss  upon 
this  passage  refers  to  those  who  have 
singularly  fiery  and  baleful  eyes,  who 
by  a  mere  look  can  harm  others,  espe¬ 
cially  young  children.  And  AvicennaJ 


f  “ Galatians .”  Hi,  i.  The  original  Greek  is 
TQ  <£v67)toi  TaXarai,  t£<;  u|xa<;  e@acncavev  Tfl 
aX7)0ei<?  (XT)  7TC'.0ea0aa;  Curtius  doubts  the  etymo¬ 
logical  connexion  between  paoxcdvar  and  Latin 
‘ fascino ”  as  from  a  root  <X>A£.  In  classical 
times  the  charm  was  dissolved  by  spitting  thrice. 
Cf.  Theocritus,  VI,  jg:  {xrj  paaxavQco  8£, 

rplq  eiq  !(xov  eTCxuaa  x6X7rov. 

X  “Avicenna."  Abn  Ali  Al  Hosian  Ibn 
Addallah  Ibn  Sina,  Arabian  physician  and 
philosopher,  born  at  Kharmaithen,  in  the 
province  of  Bokhara,  g8o;  died  at  Hamadan,  in 
Northern  Persia,  1037.  It  should  be  noted  that 
the  Schoolmen  were  aware  of  the  pantheistic 
tendencies  of  Avicenna' s philosophical  works,  and 
accordingly  were  reluctant  to  trust  to  his 
exposition  of  Aristotle. 


Part  I.  Question  2. 


MALEFICARUM 


13 


also  bears  this  out,  Naturalium ,  Book  3, 
c.  the  last,  when  he  says :  “Very  often 
the  soul  may  have  as  much  influence 
upon  the  body  of  another  to  the  same 
extent  as  it  has  upon  its  own  body,  for 
such  is  the  influence  of  the  eyes  of  any¬ 
one  who  by  his  glance  attracts  and  fas¬ 
cinates  another.”  And  the  same  opinion 
is  maintained  by  Al-Gazali*  in  the  5th 
book  and  10th  c.  of  his  Physics.  Avi¬ 
cenna  also  suggests,  although  he  does 
not  put  this  opinion  forward  as  irrefut¬ 
able,  that  the  power  of  the  imagination 
can  actually  change  or  seem  to  change 
extraneous  bodies,  in  cases  where  the 
power  of  the  imagination  is  too  unre¬ 
strained  ;  and  hence  we  gather  that  the 
power  of  the  imagination  is  not  to  be 
considered  as  distinct  from  a  man’s 
other  sensible  powers,  since  it  is  com¬ 
mon  to  them  all,  but  to  some  extent  it 
includes  all  those  other  powers.  And 
this  is  true,  because  such  a  power  of 
th6  imagination  can  change  adjacent 
bodies,  as,  for  example,  when  a  man 
is  able  to  walk  along  some  narrow  beam 
which  is  stretched  down  the  middle  of 
a  street.  But  yet  if  this  beam  were  sus¬ 
pended  over  deep  water  he  would  not 
dare  to  walk  along  it,  because  his 
imagination  would  most  strongly  im¬ 
press  upon  his  mind  the  idea  of  falling, 
and  therefore  his  body  and  the  power 
of  his  limbs  would  obey  his  imagination, 
and  they  would  not  obey  the  contrary 
thereto,  that  is  to  say,  walking  directly 
and  without  hesitation.  This  change 
may  be  compared  to  the  influence  exer¬ 
cised  by  the  eyes  of  a  person  who  has 
such  influence,  and  so  a  mental  change 
is  brought  about  although  there  is  not 
any  actual  and  bodily  change. 

Moreover,  if  it  be  argued  that  such  a 
change  is  caused  by  a  living  body  owing 
to  the  influence  of  the  mind  upon  some 
other  living  body,  this  answer  may  be 
given.  In  the  presence  of  a  murderer 
blood  flows  from  the  wounds  in  the 
corpse  of  the  person  he  has  slain.  There¬ 
fore  without  any  mental  powers  bodies 

*  “ Al-Gazali .”  Abu  Hamid  Mohammed 
Ibn  Mohammed ,  the  celebrated  Arabian  philoso¬ 
pher,  born  at  Tous  in  Khorasan  in  1038;  died  at 
Nissapour  in  mi.  He  passed  through  complete 
scepticism  to  the  mysticism  of  the  Sufis.  It  is 
often  said  that  Blessed  Albertus  Magnus  wrote 

thus:  “ Non  approbo  dictum  Auicennae  et  Algazel 
de  fascinatione,  quia  credo  quod  non  nocet 
fascinatio,  nec  nocere  potest  ars  magica,  nec  facit 
aliquid  ex  his  quae  timentur  de  talibus .**  But 
this  passage  is  more  than  suspicious. 


can  produce  wonderful  effects,  and  so 
a  living  man  if  he  pass  by  near  the 
corpse  of  a  murdered  man,  although  he 
may  not  be  aware  of  the  dead  body,  is 
often  seized  with  fear. 

Again,  there  are  some  things  in  nature 
which  have  certain  hidden  powers,  the 
reason  for  which  man  does  not  know; 
such,  for  example,  is  the  lodestone, 
which  attracts  steel  and  many  other 
such  things,  which  S.  Augustine  men¬ 
tions  in  the  20th  book  Of  the  City  of 
God. 

And  so  women  in  order  to  bring 
about  changes  in  fhe  bodies  of  others 
sometimes  make  use  of  certain  things, 
which  exceed  our  knowledge,  but  this 
is  without  any  aid  from  the  devil.  And 
because  these  remedies  are  mysterious 
we  must  not  therefore  ascribe  them  to 
the  power  of  the  devil  as  we  should 
ascribe  evil  spells  wrought  by  witches. 

Moreover,  witches  use  certain  images 
and  other  strange  periapts,  which  they 
are  wont  to  place  under  the  lintels  of 
the  doors  of  houses,  or  in  those  meadows 
where  flocks  are  herding,  or  even  where 
men  congregate,  and  thus  they  cast 
spells  over  their  victims,  who  have  oft- 
times  been  known  to  die.  But  because 
such  extraordinary  effects  can  proceed 
from  these  images  it  would  appear  that 
the  influence  of  these  images  is  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  influence  of  the  stars  over 
human  bodies,  for  as  natural  bodies 
are  influenced  by  heavenly  bodies,  so 
may  artificial  bodies  likewise  be  thus 
influenced.  But  natural  bodies  may  find 
the  benefit  of  certain  secret  but  good 
influences.  Therefore  artificial  bodies 
may  receive  such  influence.  Hence  it  is  ' 
plain  that  those  who  perform  works  of 
healing  may  well  perform  them  by 
means  of  such  good  influences,  and  this 
has  no  connexion  at  all  with  any  evil 
power. 

Moreover,  it  would  seem  that  most 
extraordinary  and  miraculous  events 
come  to  pass  by  the  working  of  the 
powers  of  nature.  For  wonderful  and 
terrible  and  amazing  things  happen 
owing  to  natural  forces.  And  this  S. 
Gregory  points  out  in  his  Second  Dia¬ 
logue. f  The  Saints  perform  miracles, 


t  “ Second  Dialogue .”  The  “ Dialogorum 
Libri  IV”  is  one  of  the  most  famous  of  S. 
Gregory's  works,  and  very  many  separate 
editions  have  appeared. 


J4 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  2. 


sometimes  by  a  prayer,  sometimes  by 
their  power  alone.  There  are  examples 
of  each :  S.  Peter  by  praying  raised  to 
lifeTabitha,  who  was  dead.*  By  rebuk¬ 
ing  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  who  were 
telling  a  lie,  he  slew  them  without  any 
prayer.  Therefore  a  man  by  his  mental 
influence  can  change  a  material  body 
into  another,  or  he  can  change  such  a 
body  from  health  to  sickness  and  con¬ 
versely. 

Moreover,  the  human  body  is  nobler 
than  any  other  body,  but  because  of  the 
passions  of  the  mind  the  human  body 
changes  and  becomes  hot  or  cold,  as  is 
the  case  with  angry  men  or  men  who 
are  afraid:  and  so  an  even  greater 
change  takes  place  with  regard  to  the 
effects  of  sickness  and  death,  which  by 
their  power  can  greatly  change  a 
material  body. 

But  certain  objections  must  be  al¬ 
lowed.  The  influence  of  the  mind  can¬ 
not  make  an  impression  upon  any  form 
except  by  the  intervention  of  some 
agent,  as  we  have  said  above.  And 
these  are  the  words  of  S.  Augustine  in 
the  book  which  we  have  already  quoted: 
It  is  incredible  that  the  angels  who 
fell  from  Heaven  should  be  obedient  to 
any  material  things,  for  they  obey  God 
only.  And  much  less  can  a  man  of  his 
natural  power  bring  about  extraordin¬ 
ary  and  evil  effects.  The  answer  must 
be  made,  there  are  even  to-day  many 
who  err  greatly  on  this  point,  making 
excuses  for  witches  and  laying  the  whole 
blame  upon  the  craft  of  the  devil,  or 
ascribing  the  changes  that  they  work 
to  some  natural  alteration.  These  errors 
may  be  easily  made  clear.  First,  by 
the  description  of  witches  which  S. 
Isidore  gives  in  his  Etymologiae ,  c.  9 : 
Witches  are  so  called  on  account  of 
the  blackness  of  their  guilt,  that  is  to 
say,  their  deeds  are  more  evil  than  those 
of  any  other  malefactors.  He  con¬ 
tinues  :  They  stir  up  and  confound  the 
elements  by  the  aid  of  the  devil,  and 
arouse  terrible  hailstorms  and  tem¬ 
pests.  Moreover,  he  says  they  distract 
the  minds  of  men,  driving  them  to 
madness,  insane  hatred,  and  inordinate 
lusts.  Again,  he  continues,  by  the  ter¬ 
rible  influence  of  their  spells  alone,  as 
it  were  by  a  draught  of  poison,  they  can 
destroy  life. 

And  the  words  of  S.  Augustine  in  his 


*  “S.  Peter "Acts  of  the  Apostles ,”  ix, 
36-42;  and  Vy  1-11. 


book  on  The  City  of  God  are  very  much 
to  the  point,  for  he  tells  us  who  magi¬ 
cians  and  witches  really  are.  Magi¬ 
cians,  who  are  commonly  called  witches, 
^are  thus  termed  on  account  of  the  mag¬ 
nitude  of  their  evil  deeds.  These  are 
they  who  by  the  permission  of  God 
disturb  the  elements,  who  drive  to  dis¬ 
traction  the  minds  of  men,  such  as  have 
lost  their  trust  in  God,  and  by  the  ter¬ 
rible  power  of  their  evil  spells,  without 
any  actual  draught  or  poison,  kill 
human  beings.  As  Lucan  says :  A 
mind  which  has  not  been  corrupted  by 
any  noxious  drink  perishes  forspoken 
by  some  evil  charm.  For  having  sum¬ 
moned  devils  to  their  aid  they  actually 
dare  to  heap  harms  upon  mankind,  ancj 
even  to  destroy  their  enemies  by  their^  1 
evil  spells.  And  it  is  certain  that 
operations  of  this  kind  the  witch  works  ! 
in  close  conjunction  with  the  devil  f 
Secondly,  punishments  are  of  four  kinds: 
beneficial,  hurtful,  wrought  by  witch¬ 
craft,  and  natural.  Beneficial  punish¬ 
ments  are  meted  out  by  the  ministry  of 
good  Angels,  just  as  hurtful  punish¬ 
ments  proceed  from  evil  spirits.  Moses 
smote  Egypt  with  ten  plagues  by  the 
ministry  of  good  Angels,  and  the  magi¬ 
cians  were  only  able  to  perform  three 
of  these  miracles  by  the  aid  of  the  devil. 
And  the  pestilence  which  fell  upon  the 
people  for  three  days  because  of  the  sin 
of  David  who  numbered  the  people, 
and  the  72,000  men  who  were  slain  in 
one  night  in  the  army  of  Sennacherib, 
were  miracles  wrought  by  the  Angels 
of  God,  that  is,  by  good  Angels  who 
feared  God  and  knew  that  they  were 
carrying  out  His  commands. 

Destructive  harm,  however,  is 
wrought  by  the  medium  of  bad  angels, 
at  whose  hands  the  children  of  Israel 
in  the  desert  were  often  afflicted.  And 
those  harms  which  are  simply  evil  and 
nothing  more  are  brought  about  by 
the  devil,  who  works  through  the 
medium  of  sorcerers  and  witches.  There 
are  also  natural  harms  which  in  some 
manner  depend  upon  the  conjunction 
of  heavenly  bodies,  such  as  dearth, 
drought,  tempests,  and  similar  effects 
of  nature. 


It  is  obvious  that  there  is  a  vast  differ¬ 
ence  between  all  these  causes,  circum¬ 
stances,  and  happenings.  For  Job  was 
afflicted  by  the  devil  with  a  harmful 
disease,  but  this  is  nothing  to  the  pur¬ 
pose.  And  if  anybody  who  is  too  clever 


Part  I.  Question  2. 


MALEFICARUM 


*5 


and  over-curious  asks  how  it  was  that 
Job  was  afflicted  with  this  disease  by 
the  devil  without  the  aid  of  some  sor¬ 
cerer  or  witch,  let  him  know  that  he  is 
merely  beating  the  air  and  not  inform¬ 
ing  himself  as  to  the  real  truth.  For  in 
\  the  time  of  Job  there  were  no  sorcerers 
»  and  witches,  and  such  abominations 
were  not  yet  practised.  But  the  provi¬ 
dence  of  God  wished  that  by  the  ex¬ 
ample  of  Job  the  power  of  the  devil 
even  over  good  men  might  be  mani¬ 
fested,  so  that  we  might  learn  to  be  on 
our  guard  against  Satan,  and,  more¬ 
over,  by  the  example  of  this  holy 
patriarch  the  glory  of  God  shines  abroad, 
since  nothing  happens  save  what  is 
permitted  by  God. 

With  regard  to  the  time  at  which  this 
evil  superstition,  witchcraft,  appeared, 
we  must  first  distinguish  the  worshippers 
of  the  devil  from  those  who  were  merely 
idolaters.  And  Vincent  of  Beauvais*  in 
his  Speculum  historiale ,  quoting  many 
learned  authorities,  says  that  he  who 
first  practised  the  arts  of  magic  and  of 
astrology  was  Zoroaster,  f  who  is  said 
to  have  been  Cham!  the  son  of  Noe. 


*  “Vincent”  Little  is  known  of  the  personal 
history  of  this  celebrated  encyclopaedist.  The 
years  of  his  birth  and  death  are  uncertain ,  but  the 
dates  most  frequently  assigned  are  1190  and  1264 
respectively.  It  is  thought  that  he  joined  the 
Dominicans  in  Paris  shortly  after  1218,  and  that 
he  passed  practically  his  whole  life  in  his 
monastery  at  Beauvais ,  where  he  occupied  himself 
incessantly  upon  his  enormous  work ,  the  general 
title  of  which  is  “ Speculum  Maius,”  containing 
80  books ,  divided  into  9885  chapters.  The  third 
party  “ Speculum  Historiale,”  in  91  books  and 
3793  chapters,  brings  the  History  of  the  World 
down  to  a.d.  1250. 

f  “  /fro  aster .”  Pliny,  “ Historia  Naturalis,” 
XXX,  ii,  says  of  magic:  “ Sine  dubio  illic  orta  in 
Perside  a  Zoroastre,  ut  inter  auctores  conuenit. 
Sed  unus  hic  fuerit,  an  postea  et  alius,  non  satis 
constat.”  Apuleius,  “De  Magia,”  XXVI, 
mentions  fproaster  and  Oromazus  as  the  in¬ 
ventors  of  sorcery.  “ Audis tisne  magiam  .  .  . 
artem  esse  dis  immortalibus  acceptam ..  .a 
Zoroastro  et  Oromazo  auctoribus  suis  nobilem, 
caelitum  antistitam?” 

+  “Cham.”  “A.  V.”  Ham.  Lenglet  du  Fres- 
noy  in  his  “History  of  the  Hermetic  Philosophy” 
repeats  an  old  tradition:  “Most  alchemists  pre¬ 
tended  that  Cham,  or  Chem,  the  son  of  Noe,  was 
an  adept  in  the  art ,  and  thought  it  highly  probable 
that  the  words  ‘ Chemistry ’  and  ‘ Alchemy ’  are 
both  derived  from  his  name.”  Lactantius,  “De 
Origine  Erroris,”  II,  says  of  the  descendants  of 
Cham:  “ Omnium  primi  qui  Aegyptum  occu- 


And  according  to  S.  Augustine  in  his 
book  Of  the  City  of  God,  Cham  laughed 
aloud  when  he  was  bom,  and  thus 
showed  that  he  was  a  servant  of  the 
devil,  and  he,  although  he  was  a  great 
and  mighty  king,  was  conquered  by 
Ninus  the  son  of  Belus,  who  built 
Ninive,  whose  reign  was  the  beginning 
of  the  kingdom  of  Assyria  in  the  time 
of  Abraham. 

This  Ninus,  owing  to  his  insane  love 
for  his  father,  when  his  father  was  dead, 
ordered  a  statue  of  his  father  to  be 
made,  and  whatever  criminal  took 
refuge  there  was  free  from  any  punish¬ 
ment  which  he  might  have  incurred. 
From  this  time  men  began  to  worship 
images  as  though  they  were  gods;  but 
this  was  after  the  earliest  years  of  his¬ 
tory,  for  in  the  very  first  ages  there  was 
no  idolatry,  since  in  the  earliest  times 
men  still  preserved  some  remembrance 
of  the  creation  of  the  world,  as  S. 
Thomas  says,  Book  2,  question  95, 
article  4.  Or  it  may  have  originated 


pauerunt;  caelestia  suspicere,  atque  adorare 
coeperunt.” 

“Realite  de  la  Magie  et  des  Apparitions,” 
Paris,  1819  (pp.  xii-xiii),  has:  “Le  monde, 
purgt  par  le  deluge,  f  ut  repeuple  par  les  trois  fis 
de  Noe.  Sem  et  Japhet  imiter ent  la  ver  tu  de  leur 
pere,  et  furent  justes  comme  lui.  Cham,  au 
contraire,  donna  entrSe  au  dimon  dans  son  coeur, 
remit  au  jour  V art  exkrable  de  la  magie,  en 
composa  les  regies,  et  en  instruisit  son  fils 
Misraim. 

“Cent  trente  ans  apres  le  deluge,  Sem  habitait 
la  Perse.  Ses  enfans  pratiquaient  la  religion 
naturelle,  que  Dieu  mit  dans  le  coeur  du  premier 
homme;  et  leurs  vieillards  se  nommaient  mages, 
qui  veut  dire  “sages”  en  notre  langue.  Dans  la 
suite,  les  descendant  de  Cham  se  partagerent,  et 
quelques-uns  passerent  en  Perse;  Cham,  qui 
vivait  encore,  etait  a  leur  te  te.  II  opera  tant  de 
prodiges  par  ses  charmes  et  ses  enchantements, 
que  les  Bactriens  lui  donnerent  le  nom  de 
Zoroastre,  c’est-d-dire,  ‘astre  vivant et  trans¬ 
porter  ent  d  ceux  de  sa  secte  le  nom  honor¬ 
able  de  “mages,”  que  les  adorateurs  du  vrai 
Dieu  abandonnerent,  des  qu’ils  le  virent  ainsi 
profane:  et  Vest  de  la  que  nous  est  venu  le 
nom  de  ‘magie?  pour  signifer  le  culte  du 
demon. 

“Cham,  ou  Zoiroastre,fut  encore  Vinventeur  de 
Vastrologie  judiciaire;  il  regarda  les  astres  comme 
autant  de  divinitis,  et  persuada  aux  hommes  que 
tout  leur  destin  dependait  de  leurs  bonnes  ou 
mauvaises  influences.  Ainsi  Von  commenga  d 
leur  rendre  un  culte  religieux,  qui  fut  V origine  de 
Vidoldtrie.  La  Chaldie  fut  le  premier  thMtre  de 
ces  igar emens;  et  alors ,  ‘ Chaldeen ,  astrologue  et 
magicien ’  etaient  trois  mots  synonymes.” 


i6 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  2. 


with  Nembroth,*  who  compelled  men 
to  worship  fire ;  and  thus  in  the  second 
age  of  the  world  there  began  Idolatry, 
which  is  the  first  of  all  superstitions,  as 
Divination  is  the  second,  and  the  Ob¬ 
serving  of  Times  and  Seasons  the  third. 

The  practices  of  witches  are  included 
in  the  second  kind  of  superstition,  which 
is  to  say  Divination,  since  they  expressly 
invoke  the  devil.  And  there  are  three 
kinds  of  this  superstition : — Necromancy, 
Astrology,  or  rather  Astromancy,  the 
superstitious  observation  of  the  stars, 
and  Oneiromancy. 

I  have  explained  all  this  at  length 
that  the  reader  may  understand  that 
these  evil  arts  did  not  suddenly  burst 
upon  the  world,  but  rather  were  devel¬ 
oped  in  the  process  of  time,  and  there¬ 
fore  it  was  not  impertinent  to  point  out 
that  there  were  no  witches  in  the  days 
of  Job.  For  as  the  years  went  by,  as 
S.  Gregory  says  in  his  Moralia ,  the 
knowledge  of  the  Saints  grew :  and 
therefore  the  evil  craft  of  the  devil  like¬ 
wise  increased.  The  prophet  Isaias  says: 
The  earth  is  filled  with  the  knowledge 
of  the  Lord  (xi,  6).  And  so  in  this 
twilight  and  evening  of  the  world,  when 
sin  is  flourishing  on  every  side  and  in 
every  place,  when  charity  is  growing 
cold,  the  evil  of  witches  and  their 
iniquities  superabound. 

And  since  Zoroaster  was  wholly  given 
up  to  the  magic  arts,  it  was  the  devil 
alone  who  inspired  him  to  study  and 
observe  the  stars.  Very  early  did  sor¬ 
cerers  and  witches  make  compacts  with 
the  devil  and  connive  with  him  to  bring 
harm  upon  human  beings.  This  is 
proved  in  the  seventh  chapter  of 
Exodus,  where  the  magicians  of  Pharao 
by  the  power  of  the  devil  wrought 
extraordinary  wonders,  imitating  those 
plagues  which  Moses  had  brought  upon 
Egypt  by  the  power  of  good  angels. 

Hence  follows  the  Catholic  teaching, 
that  in  order  to  bring  about  evil  a 
witch  can  and  does  co-operate  with  the 

*  “Nembroth”  S.  Augustine,  “ De  Ciuitate 
Dei  ,”  XVI,  3,  quotes:  “ Chus  autem  genuit 
Nebroth;  hic  coepit  esse  gigans  super  terram.  Hic 
erat  gigans  uenator  contra  Dominum  Deum.” 
Nebroth  is  the  English  Nimrod,  who  was  con¬ 
sidered  a  past  master  of  magic,  and  even  by  later 
ages  a  demon.  So  we  have:  “ Nembroth .  Un 
des  esprits  que  les  magiciens  consultent .  Le 
mardi  lui  est  consacri ,  et  on  Vivoque  cejour-ld:  il 
fautfpour  le  r envoy er,  luijeter-  une  pierre;  ce  qui 
est  facile  ”  Collin  de  Plancy  (“Dictionnaire 
Infernal,”  sixieme  Edition,  i86f) . 


devil.  And  any  objections  to  this  may 
briefly  be  answered  thus. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  nobody  denies 
that  certain  harms  and  damages  which 
actually  and  visibly  afflict  men,  animals, 
the  fruits  of  the  earth,  and  which  often 
come  about  by  the  influence  of  the  stars, 
may  yet  often  be  brought  about  by 
demons,  when  God  permits  them  so  to 
act.  For  as  S.  Augustine  says  in  the  4th 
book  Of  the  City  of  God:  Demons  may 
make  use  of  both  fire  and  air  if  God 
allow  them  so  to  do.  And  a  commen¬ 
tator  remarks:  God  punishes  by  the 
power  of  evil  angels. 

2.  From  this  obviously  follows  the 
answer  to  any  objection  concerning 
Job,  and  to  any  objections  which  may 
be  raised  to  our  account  of  the  begin¬ 
nings  of  magic  in  the  world. 

3.  With  regard  to  the  fact  that  rotten 
sage  which  is  thrown  into  running 
water  is  said  to  produce  some  evil  effect 
without  the  help  of  the  devil,  although 
it  may  not  be  wholly  disconnected  with 
the  influence  of  certain  stars,  we  would 
point  out  that  we  do  not  intend  to 
discuss  the  good  or  evil  influence  of  the 
stars,  but  only  witchcraft,  and  therefore 
this  is  beside  the  point. 

4.  With  regard  to  the  fourth  argu¬ 
ment,  it  is  certainly  true  that  the  devil 
only  employs  witches  to  bring  about 
their  bale  and  destruction.  But  when 
it  is  deduced  that  they  are  not  to  be 
punished,  because  they  only  act  as  in¬ 
struments  which  are  moved  not  by  their 
own  volition  but  at  the  will  and 
pleasure  of  the  principal  and  agent, 
there  is  a  ready  answer:  For  they  are 
human  instruments  and  free  agents,  and 
although  they  have  made  a  compact  \ 
and  a  contract  with  the  devil,  neverthe¬ 
less  they  do  enjoy  absolute  liberty :  for, 
as  has  been  learnt  from  their  own  reve-  \ 
lations — and  I  speak  of  women  who 
have  been  convicted  and  burned  at  the 
stake  and  who  were  compelled  to  wreak 
vengeance  and  evil  and  damage  if  they 
wished  to  escape  punishments  and 
blows  inflicted  by  the  devil — yet  these 
women  do  co-operate  with  the  devil 
although  they  are  bound  to  him  by 
that  profession  by  which  at  first  they 
freely  and  willingly  gave  themselves 
over  into  his  power. 

With  regard  to  these  other  arguments, 
in  which  it  is  proved  that  certain  old 
women  have  an  occult  knowledge  which 


Part  I.  Question  2. 


MALEFICARUM 


17 


enables  them  to  bring  about  extra¬ 
ordinary  and  indeed  evil  effects  without 
the  aid  of  the  devil.  It  must  be  under¬ 
stood  that  from  one  particular  to  con¬ 
clude  a  universal  argument  is  contrary 
to  all  sound  reason.  And  when,  as  it 
seems,  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
Scriptures  no  such  instance  can  be 
found,  save  where  it  speaks  of  the 
charms  and  spells  old  women  practise, 
therefore  we  must  not  hence  conclude 
that  this  is  always  the  case.  Moreover, 
the  authorities  on  these  passages  leave 
the  matter  open  to  question,  that  is  to 
say,  whether  such  charms  have  any 
efficacy  without  the  co-operation  of  the 
devil.  These  charms  or  fascinations 
seem  capable  of  division  into  three 
kinds.  First,  the  senses  are  deluded, 
and  this  may  truly  be  done  by  magic, 
that  is  to  say,  by  the  power  of  the  devil, 
if  God  permit  it.  And  the  senses  may 
be  enlightened  by  the  power  of  good 
angels.  Secondly,  fascination  may  bring 
about  a  certain  glamour  and  a  leading 
astray,  as  when  the  apostle  says :  Who 
hath  bewitched  you?  Galatians  iii,  1. 

I  In  the  third  place,  there  may  be  a  cer¬ 
tain  fascination  cast  by  the  eyes*  over 
another  person,  and  this  may  be  harm¬ 
ful  and  bad. 

And  it  is  of  this  fascination  that 
Avicenna  and  Al-Gazali  have  spoken; 
S.  Thomas  too  thus  mentions  this  fas¬ 
cination,  Part  1,  question  117.  For  he 
says  the  mind  of  a  man  may  be  changed 
by  the  influence  of  another  mind.  And 
that  influence  which  is  exerted  over 
another  often  proceeds  from  the  eyes, 
for  in  the  eyes  a  certain  subtle  influence 
may  be  concentrated.  For  the  eyes 
direct  their  glance  upon  a  certain  ob¬ 
ject  without  taking  notice  of  other 
things,  and  although  the  vision  be  per¬ 
fectly  clear,  yet  at  the  sight  of  some 
impurity,  such  as,  for  example,  a 
woman  during  her  monthly  periods,  the 
eyes  will  as  it  were  contract  a  certain 
impurity.  This  is  what  Aristotle  says  in 
his  work  On  Sleep  and  Waking,  f  and  thus 
if  anybody’s  spirit  be  inflamed  with 
malice  or  rage,  as  is  often  the  case  with 
old  women,  then  their  disturbed  spirit 


*  “Cast  by  the  eyes .”  In  Ireland  it  was  sup¬ 
posed  that  certain  witches  could  cast  a  spell  at  a 
glance,  and  they  were  commonly  called  “ 'eye- 
biting  witches .” 

t  “On  Sleeps  This  is  one  of  the  smaller 
treatises  connected  with  Aristotle's  great  work 
“On  the  Soul,"  rcepi 


looks  through  their  eyes,  for  their  coun¬ 
tenances  are  most  evil  and  harmful,  and 
often  terrify  young  children  of  tender! 
years,  who  are  extremely  impression-; 
able.  And  it  may  be  that  this  is  often 
natural,  permitted  by  God ;  on  the 
other  hand,  it  may  be  that  these  evil 
looks  are  often  inspired  by  the  malice 
of  the  devil,  with  whom  old  witches 
have  made  some  secret  contract. 

The  next  question  arises  with  regard 
to  the  influence  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
and  here  we  find  three  very  common 
errors,  but  these  will  be  answered  as  we 
proceed  to  explain  other  matters. 

With  regard  to  operations  of  witch¬ 
craft,  we  find  that  some  of  these  may 
be  due  to  mental  influence  over  others, 
and  in  some  cases  such  mental  influence 
might  be  a  good  one,  but  it  is  the 
motive  which  makes  it  evil. 

And  there  are  four  principal  argu¬ 
ments  which  are  to  be  objected  against 
those  who  deny  that  there  are  witches, 
or  magical  operations,  which  may  be 
performed  at  the  conjunction  of  certain 
planets  and  stars,  and  that  by  the  malice 
of  human  beings  harm  may  be  wrought 
through  fashioning  images,  through  the 
use  of  spells,  and  by  the  writing  of 
mysterious  characters.  All  theologians 
and  philosophers  agree  that  the  heav¬ 
enly  bodies  are  guided  and  directed  by 
certain  spiritual  mediums.  But  those 
spirits  are  superior  to  our  minds  and 
souls,  just  as  the  heavenly  bodies  are 
superior  to  other  bodies,  and  therefore 
they  can  influence  both  the  mind  and 
body  of  a  man,  so  that  he  is  persuaded 
and  directed  to  perform  some  human 
act.  But  in  order  yet  more  fully  to 
attempt  a  solution  of  these  matters,  we 
may  consider  certain  difficulties  from  a 
discussion  of  which  we  shall  yet  more 
clearly  arrive  at  the  truth.  First,  spirit- j 
ual  substances  cannot  change  bodies  to] 
some  other  natural  form  unless  it  be 
through  the  mediumship  of  some  agent. 
Therefore,  however  strong  a  mental 
influence  may  be,  it  cannot  effect  any 
change  in  a  man’s  mind  or  disposition. 
Moreover,  several  universities,  especially 
that  of  Paris,  have  condemned  the  fol¬ 
lowing  article: — That  an  enchanter  is 
able  to  cast  a  camel  into  a  deep  ditch 
merely  by  directing  his  gaze  upon  it. 
And  so  this  article  is  condemned,  that 
a  corporeal  body  should  obey  some 
spiritual  substance  if  this  be  understood 
simply,  that  is  to  say,  if  the  obedience 


i8 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  2. 


entails  some  actual  change  or  trans¬ 
formation.  For  in  regard  to  this  it  is 
God  alone  Who  is  absolutely  obeyed. 
Bearing  these  points  in  mind  we  may 
soon  see  how  that  fascination,  or  in¬ 
fluence  of  the  eyes  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  is  possible,  and  in  what  respects 
it  is  not  possible.  For  it  is  not  possible 
that  a  man  through  the  natural  powers 
of  his  mind  should  direct  such  pov/er 
from  his  eyes  that,  without  the  agency 
of  his  own  body  or  of  some  other 
medium,  he  should  be  able  to  do  harm 
to  the  body  of  another  man.  Nor  is  it 
possible  that  a  man  through  the  natural 
owers  of  his  mind  should  at  his  will 
ring  about  some  change,  and  by 
directing  this  power  through  the 
mediumship  of  his  eyes  entirely  trans¬ 
form  the  body,  of  a  man,  upon  whom 
he  fixes  his  gaze,  just  as  his  will  and 
pleasure  may  be. 

And  therefore  in  neither  of  these  ways 
can  one  man  influence  and  fascinate 
another,  for  no  man  by  the  natural 
powers  of  his  mind  alone  possesses  such 
an  extraordinary  influence.  Therefore, 
to  wish  to  prove  that  evil  effects  can  be 
produced  by  some  natural  power  is  to 
say  that  this  natural  power  is  the  power 
of  the  devil,  which  is  very  far  indeed 
from  the  truth. 

*  Nevertheless,  we  may  more  clearly 
set  forth  how  it  is  possible  for  a  careful 
gaze  to  do  harm.  It  may  so  happen  that 
if  a  man  or  a  woman  gaze  steadfastly  at 
some  child,  the  child,  owing  to  its  power 
of  sight  and  power  of  imagination,  may 
receive  some  very  sensible  and  direct 
impression.  And  an  impression  of  this 
kind  is  often  accompanied  by  a  bodily 
change,  and  since  the  eyes  are  one  of 
the  tenderest  organs  of  the  body,  there¬ 
fore  they  are  very  liable  to  such  im¬ 
pressions.  Therefore  it  may  well  hap¬ 
pen  that  the  eyes  receive  some  bad 
impression  and  change  for  the  worse, 
since  very  often  the  thoughts  of  the 
mind  or  the  motions  of  the  body  are 
particularly  impressed  upon  and  shown 
by  the  eyes.  And  so  it  may  happen  that 
some  angry  and  evil  gaze,  if  it  has  been 
steadfastly  fixed  and  directed  upon  a 
child,  may  so  impress  itself  upon  that 
child’s  memory  and  imagination  that  it 
may  reflect  itself  in  the  gaze  of  the 
child,  and  actual  results  will  follow,  as, 
for  example,  he  may  lose  his  appetite 
and  be  unable  to  take  food,  he  may 
sicken  and  fall  ill.  And  sometimes  we 
see  that  the  sight  of  a  man  who  is 


suffering  from  his  eyes  may  cause  the 
eyes  of  those  who  gaze  upon  him  to 
dazzle  and  feel  weak,  although  to  a 
large  extent  this  is  nothing  else  but  the 
effect  of  pure  imagination.  Several 
other  examples  of  the  same  sort  might 
be  discussed  here,  but  for  the  sake  of 
conciseness  we  will  not  discuss  them  in 
any  further  detail. 

All  this  is  borne  out  by  the  commen¬ 
tators  upon  the  Psalm,  Qui  timent  te 
uidebunt  me.  *  There  is  a  great  power 
in  the  eyes,  and  this  appears  even  in 
natural  things.  For  if  a  wolf  see  a  man 
first,  the  man  is  struck  dumb.  More¬ 
over,  if  a  basilisk  see  a  man  first  its  look 
is  fatal ;  but  if  he  see  it  first  he  may  be  < 
able  to  kill  it;  and  the  reason  why  the 
basilisk  is  able  to  kill  a  man  by  its  gaze 
is  because  when  it  sees  him,  owing  to 
its  anger  a  certain  terrible  poison  is  set 
in  motion  throughout  its  body,  and  this  ^ 
it  can  dart  from  its  eyes,  thus  infecting 
the  atmosphere  with  deadly  venom. 
And  thus  the  man  breathes  in  the  air 
which  it  has  infected  and  is  stupefied 
and  dies.  But  when  the  beast  is  first 
seen  by  the  man,  in  a  case  when  the 
man  wishes  to  kill  the  basilisk,  he  fur¬ 
nishes  himself  with  mirrors,  and  the 
beast  seeing  itself  in  the  mirrors  darts 
out  poison  towards  its  reflection,  but  ! 
the  poison  recoils  and  the  animal  dies. 

It  does  not  seem  plain,  however,  why 
the  man  who  thus  kills  the  basilisk 
should  not  die  too,  and  we  can  only 
conclude  that  this  is  on  account  of  some 
reason  not  clearly  understood. 

So  far  we  have  set  down  our  opinions 
absolutely  without  prejudice  and  re¬ 
fraining  from  any  hasty  or  rash  judge¬ 
ment,  not  deviating  from  the  teachings 
and  writings  of  the  Saints.  We  con¬ 
clude,  therefore,  that  the  Catholic  truth 
is  this,  that  to  bring  about  these  evils 
which  form  the  subject  of  discussion, 
witches  and  the  devil  always  work 
together,  and  that  in  so  far  as  these 
matters  are  concerned  one  can  do 
nothing  without  the  aid  and  assistance 
of  the  other. 

We  have  already  treated  of  this  fas¬ 
cination.  And  now  with  reference  to  the 
second  point,  namely,  that  blood  will 
flow  from  a  corpse  in  the  presence  of  a 
murderer.  According  to  the  Speculum 
naturale  of  Vincent  of  Beauvais,  c.  13,  the 


*  “Qui  timent .”  Psalm  li ,  8:  Uidebunt 
iusti  et  timebunt. 


Part  I.  Question  2. 


MALEFICARUM 


19 


wound  is,  as  it  were,  influenced  by  the 
mind  of  the  murderer,  and  that  wound 
receives  a  certain  atmosphere  which  has 
been  impressed  by  and  is  permeated 
with  his  violence  and  hatred,  and  when 
the  murderer  draws  near,  the  blood 
wells  up  and  gushes  forth  from  the 
corpse.  For  it  would  seem  that  this 
atmosphere,  which  was  caused  and  as  it 
were  entered  the  wound  owing  to  the 
murderer,  at  his  presence  is  disturbed 
and  greatly  moved,  and  it  is  owing  to 
this  movement  that  the  blood  streams 
out  of  the  dead  body.  There  are  some 
who  declare  that  it  is  due  to  some  other 
causes,  and  they  say  that  this  gushing 
forth  of  the  blood  is  the  voice  of  the 
blood  crying  from  the  earth  against  the 
murderer  who  is  present,  and  that  this 
is  on  account  of  the  curse  pronounced 
against  the  first  murderer  Cain.  And 
with  regard  to  that  horror  which  a 
person  feels  when  he  is  passing  near  the 
corpse  of  a  man  who  has  been  mur¬ 
dered,  although  he  may  not  be  in  any 
way  cognizant  of  the  vicinity  of  a  dead 
body,  this  horror  is  psychic,  it  infects 
the  atmosphere  and  conveys  a  thrill  of 
fear  to  the  mind.  But  all  these  explana¬ 
tions,  be  it  noted,  do  not  in  any  way 
affect  the  truth  of  the  evil  wrought  by 
witches,  since  they  are  all  perfectly 
natural  and  arise  from  natural  causes. 

In  the  third  place,  as  we  have  already 
said  above,  the  operations  and  rites  of 
witches  are  placed  in  that  second  cate¬ 
gory  of  superstition  which  is  called 
Divination ;  and  of  this  divination  there 
are  three  kinds,  but  the  argument  does 
not  hold  good  with  reference  to  the 
third  kind,  which  belongs  to  a  different 
species,  for  witchcraft  is  not  merely  any 
divination,  but  it  is  that  divination,  the 
operations  of  which  are  performed  by 
express  and  explicit  invocations  of  the 
devil;  and  this  may  be  done  in  very 
many  ways,  as  by  Necromancy,  Geo- 
mancy,  Hydromancy,  etc. 

Wherefore  this  divination,  which  is 
used  when  they  are  working  their  spells, 
must  be  judged  to  be  the  height  of 
criminal  wickedness,  although  some 
have  attempted  to  regard  it  from 
another  point  of  view.  And  they  argue 
thus,  that  as  we  do  not  know  the  hidden 
powers  of  nature,  it  may  be  that  the 
witches  are  merely  employing  or  seeking 
to  employ  these  hidden  powers :  assur¬ 
edly  if  they  are  employing  the  natural 
j  powers  of  natural  things  to  bring  about 
a  natural  effect,  this  must  be  perfectly 


lawful,  as  indeed  is  obvious  enough,  f 
Or  even  let  us  conceive  that  if  they 
superstitiously  employ  natural  things, 
as,  for  example,  by  writing  down  cer¬ 
tain  characters  or  unknown  names  of 
some  kind,  and  that  then  they  use  these 
runes  for  restoring  a  person  to  health, 
or  for  inducing  friendship,  or  with  some 
useful  end,  and  not  at  all  for  doing  any 
damage  or  harm,  in  such  cases,  it  may 
be  granted,  I  say,  that  there  is  no  ex¬ 
press  invocation  of  demons;  neverthe¬ 
less  it  cannot  be  that  these  spells  are 
employed  without  a  tacit  invocation, 
wherefore  all  such  charms  must  be 
judged  to  be  wholly  unlawful. 

And  because  these  and  many  other 
charms  like  to  them  may  be  placed  in 
the  third  category  of  superstition,  that 
is  to  say,  idle  and  vain  observing  of 
times  and  seasons,  this  is  by  no  means 
a  relevant  argument  as  to  the  heresy  of 
witches.  But  of  this  category,  the  ob¬ 
serving  of  times  and  seasons,  there  are 
four  distinct  species :  A  man  may  use 
such  observations  to  acquire  certain 
knowledge :  or  he  may  in  this  way  seek 
to  inform  himself  concerning  lucky  or 
unlucky  days  and  things :  or  he  may  use 
sacred  words  and  prayers  as  a  charm 
with  no  reference  to  their  meaning :  or 
he  may  intend  and  desire  to  bring  about 
some  beneficial  change  in  some  body. 
All  this  S.  Thomas  has  amply  treated 
in  that  question  where  he  asks,  Whether 
such  observing  be  lawful,  especially  if 
it  be  to  bring  about  a  beneficial  change 
in  a  body,  that  is  to  say,  the  restoration 
of  persons  to  health.  But  when  witches 
observe  times  and  seasons,  their  prac¬ 
tices  must  be  held  to  belong  to  the 
second  kind  of  superstition,  and  there¬ 
fore,  in  so  far  as  they  are  concerned, 
questions  concerning  this  third  class  are 
wholly  impertinent. 

We  now  proceed  to  a  fourth  proposi¬ 
tion,  inasmuch  as  from  observations  of 
the  kind  we  have  discussed  certain 
charts  and  images  are  wont  to  be  made, 
but  these  are  of  two  separate  sorts, 
which  differ  entirely  one  from  the  other ; 
and  these  are  Astronomical  and  Necro¬ 
mantic.  Now  in  Necromancy  there  is 
always  an  express  and  particular  invo¬ 
cation  of  demons,  for  this  craft  implies 
that  there  has  been  an  express  compact 
and  contract  with  them.  Let  us  there¬ 
fore  only  consider  Astrology.  In  Astro¬ 
logy  there  is  no  compact,  and  therefore 
there  is  no  invocation,  unless  by  chance 
there  be  some  kind  of  tacit  invocation. 


20 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  2. 


since  the  figures  of  demons  and  their 
names  sometimes  appear  in  Astrological 
charts.  And  again,  Necromantic  signs 
are  written  under  the  influence  of  cer¬ 
tain  stars  in  order  to  counteract  the 
influence  and  oppositions  of  other 
heavenly  bodies,  and  these  are  inscribed, 
for  signs  and  characters  of  this  kind  are 
often  engraved  upon  rings,  gems,  or 
some  other  precious  metal,  but  magic 
signs  are  engraved  without  any  refer¬ 
ence  to  the  influence  of  the  stars,  and 
often  upon  any  substance,  nay,  even 
upon  vile  and  sordid  substances,  which 
when  buried  in  certain  places  bring 
about  damage  and  harm  and  disease. 
But  we  are  discussing  charts  which  are 
made  with  reference  to  the  stars.  And 
these  Necromantic  charts  and  images 
have  no  reference  to  any  heavenly  body. 
Therefore  a  consideration  of  them  does 
not  enter  into  the  present  discussion. 

Moreover,  many  of  these  images 
which  have  been  made  with  super¬ 
stitious  rites  have  no  efficacy  at  all,  that 
is  to  say,  in  so  far  as  the  fashioning  of 
them  is  concerned,  although  it  may  be 
that  the  material  of  which  they  are 
made  does  possess  a  certain  power, 
although  this  is  not  due  to  the  fact  that 
they  were  made  under  the  influence  of 
certain  stars.  Yet  many  hold  that  it  is 
in  any  case  unlawful  to  make  use  even 
of  images  like  these.  But  the  images 
made  by  witches  have  no  natural  power 
at  all,  nor  has  the  material  of  which 
they  are  formed  any  power;  but  they 
fashion  such  images  by  command  of  the 
devil,  that  by  so  doing  they  may,  as  it 
were,  mock  the  work  of  the  Creator, 
and  that  they  may  provoke  Him  to 
anger  so  that  in  punishment  of  their 
misdeeds  He  may  suffer  plagues  to  fall 
upon  the  earth.  And  in  order  to  in¬ 
crease  their  guilt  they  delight  especially 
to  fashion  many  such  images  at  the 
more  solemn  seasons  of  the  year. 

With  regard  to  the  fifth  point,  S. 
Gregory  is  there  speaking  of  the  power 
of  grace  and  not  of  the  power  of  nature. 
And  since,  as  S.  John  says,  we  are  born 
of  God,  what  wonder  then  that  the  sons 
of  God  enjoy  extraordinary  powers. 

With  regard  to  the  last  point  we  will 
say  this,  that  a  mere  likeness  is  irrele¬ 
vant,  because  the  influence  of  one’s  own 
mind  on  one’s  own  body  is  different 
from  its  influence  upon  another  body. 
For  since  the  mind  is  united  to  the  body 
as  though  the  body  were  the  material 
form  of  the  mind,  and  the  emotions  are 


an  act  of  the  body,  but  separate,  there¬ 
fore  the  emotion  can  be  changed  by  the 
influence  of  the  mind  whensoever  there 
is  some  bodily  change,  heat  or  cold,  or 
any  alteration,  even  to  death  itself.  But 
to  change  the  actual  body,  no  act  of 
the  mind  is  sufficient  by  itself,  unless 
there  can  be  some  physical  result  which 
alters  the  body.  Whence  witches,  by 
the  exercise  of  no  natural  power,  but 
only  by  the  help  of  the  devil,  are  able 
to  bring  about  harmful  effects.  And  the 
devils  themselves  can  only  do  this  by 
the  use  of  material  objects  as  their 
instruments,  such  as  bones,  hair,  wood, 
iron,  and  all  sorts  of  objects  of  this  kind, 
concerning  which  operation  we  shall 
treat  more  fully  a  little  later. 

Now  with  regard  to  the  tenor  of  the 
Bull  of  our  Most  Holy  Father  the  Pope, 
we  will  discuss  the  origin  of  witches, 
and  how  it  is  that  of  recent  years  their 
works  have  so  multiplied  among  us. 
And  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  for 
this  to  take  place,  three  things  concur, 
the  devil,  the  witch,  and  the  permission 
of  God  who  suffers  such  things  to  be. 
For  S.  Augustine  says,  that  the  abomi¬ 
nation  of  witchcraft  arose  from  this  foul 
connexion  of  mankind  with  the  devil. 
Therefore  it  is  plain  that  the  origin  and 
the  increase  of  this  heresy  arises  from 
this  foul  connexion,  a  fact  which  many 
authors  approve. 

We  must  especially  observe  that  this 
heresy,jyitcfficraft,  not  only  differs  from 
all  other  heresy  in  this,  that  not  merely 
by  a  tacit  compact,  but  by  a  compact 
which  is  exactly  defined  and  expressed 
it  blasphemes  the  Creator  and  en¬ 
deavours  to  the  utmost  to  profane  Him 
and  to  harm  His  creatures,  for  all  other 
simple  heresies  have  made  no  open 
compact  with  the  devil,  no  compact, 
that  is,  either  tacit  or  exactly  expressed, 
although  their  errors  and  misbelief  are 
directly  to  be  attributed  to  the  Father 
of  errors  and  lies.  Moreover,  witchcraft 
differs  from  all  other  harmful  and  mys¬ 
terious  arts  in  this  point,  that  of  all 
superstition  it  is  essentially  the  vilest, 
the  most  evil  and  the  worst,  wherefore 
it  derives  its  name  from  doing  evil,  and 
from  blaspheming  the  true  faith.  ( Male¬ 
ficae  dictae  a  Maleficiendo ,  seu  a  male  de 
fide  sentiendo .) 

Let  us  especially  note  too  that  in  the 
practice  of  this  abominable  evil,  four 
points  in  particular  are  required. 
First,  most  profanely  to  renounce  the 
Catholic  Faith,  or  at  any  rate  to  deny 


Part  I.  Question  3. 


MALEFICARUM 


21 


certain  dogmas  of  the  faith;  secondly, 
to  devote  themselves  body  and  soul  to 
all  evil ;  thirdly,  to  offer  up  unbaptized 
children  to  Satan;  fourthly,  to  indulge 
in  every  kind  of  carnal  lust  with  Incubi 
and  Succubi  and  all  manner  of  filthy 
\  delights. 


Would  to  God  that  we  might  sup¬ 
pose  all  this  to  be  untrue  and  merely 
Imaginary,  if  only  our  Holy  Mother  the 
Church  were  free  from  the  leprosy  of 
such  abomination.  Alas,  the  judgement 
of  the  Apostolic  See,  who  is  alone  the 
Mistress  and  the  Teacher  of  all  truth, 
that  judgement,  I  say,  which  has  been 
expressed  in  the  Bull  of  our  Holy  Father 
the  Pope,  assures  us  and  makes  us  aware 
that  these  crimes  and  evils  flourish 
amongst  us,  and  we  dare  not  refrain 
from  inquiring  into  them  lest  we  imperil 
our  own  salvation.  And  therefore  we 
must  discuss  at  length  the  origin  and 
the  increase  of  these  abominations;  it 
has  been  a  work  of  much  labour  indeed, 
but  we  trust  that  every  detail  will  most 
exactly  and  most  carefully  be  weighed 
by  those  who  read  this  book,  for  herein 
will  be  found  nothing  contrary  to  sound 
reason,  nothing  which  differs  from  the 
words  of  Scripture  and  the  tradition  of 
the  Fathers. 

Now  there  are  two  circumstances 
which  are  certainly  very  common  at  the 
\  present  day,  that  is  to  say,  the  con¬ 
nexion  of  witches  with  familiars,  Incubi 
and  Succubi,  and  the  horrible  sacrifices 
of  smalPcThldren.  Therefore  we  shall 


,  particularly  deal  with  these  matters,  so 
*  that  in  the  first  place  we  shall  discuss 
these  demons  themselves,  secondly,  the 
witches  and  their  works,  and  thirdly, 
we  will  inquire  wherefore  such  things 
are  suffered  to  be.  Now  these  demons 
work  owing  to  their  influence  upon 
man’s  mind  and  upon  his  free  will,  and 

(they  choose  to  copulate  under  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  certain  stars  rather  than 
under  the  influence  of  others,  for  it 
would  seem  that  at  certain  times  their 
semen  can  more  easily  generate  and 


beget  children.  Accordingly,  we  must 
inquire  why  the  demons  should  act  at 
the  conjunction  of  certain  stars,  and 
what  times  these  are. 

''There  aJeTHree^hief  points  to  dis¬ 
cuss.  First,  whether  these  abominable 
heresies  can  be  multiplied  throughout 
the  world  by  those  who  give  themselves 
to  Incubi  and  Succubi.  Secondly, 
whether  their  actiSns  have  not  a  cer¬ 


tain  extraordinary  power  when  per¬ 
formed  under  the  influence  of  certain 
stars.  Thirdly,  whether  this  abominable  * 
heresy  is  not  widely  spread  by  those 
who  profanely  sacrifice  children  to 
Satan.  Moreover,  when  we  have  dis¬ 
cussed  the  second,  point,  before  we  pro¬ 
ceed  to  the  third,  we  must  consider  the 
influence  of  the  stars,  and  what  power  \\ 
they  have  in  acts  of  witchcraft. 

With  regard  to  the  first  question  there 
are  three  difficulties  which  need  eluci¬ 
dation. 

The  first  is  a  general  consideration  of  J 
these  demons,  which  are  called  Incubi. 

The  second  question  is  more  particu¬ 
lar,  for  we  must  inquire,  How  can  these  } 
Incubi  perform  the  human  act  of  copu- 1 
lation? 

The  third  question  is  also  a  special | 
one,  How  do  witches  bind  themselves 
to  and  copulate  with  these  devils? 

☆ 

QUESTION  III 

Whether  children  can  be  generated  by  Incubi 
and  Succubi. 

AT  first  it  may  truly  seem  that  it  is 
not  in  accordance  with  the  Catho¬ 
lic  Faith  to  maintain  that  children  can 
be  begotten  by  devils,  that  is  to  say,  by 
Incubi*  and  Succubi :  for  God  Himself, 
before  sin  came  into  the  world,  insti¬ 
tuted  human  procreation,  since  He 
created  woman  from  the  rib  of  man  to 
be  a  helpmeet  unto  man :  And  to  them 
He  said :  Increase  and  multiply,  Genesis 
i,  28.  And  again  Adam  being  inspired 
by  God  said :  They  shall  be  two  in  one 
flesh,  Genesis  ii,  24.  Likewise  after  sin 
had  come  into  the  world,  it  was  said  to 
Noe :  Increase,  and  multiply,  Genesis  ix, 

1.  In  the  time  of  the  new  law  also, 
Christ  confirmed  this  union :  Have  ye 
not  read,  that  he  who  made  man  from 
the  beginning,  Made  them  male  and 
female?  S.  Matthew  xix,  4.  Therefore 
men  cannot  be  begotten  in  any  other 
way  than  this. 

But  it  may  be  argued  that  devils  take 
their  part  in  this  generation  not  as  the 
essential  cause,  but  as  a  secondary  and 
artificial  cause,  since  they  busy  them- 

*  “Incubi.”  For  a  very  full  discussion  of  the  j  f 
whole  subject  see  SinistrarVs  “ Demoniality ”  I 
with  my  Commentary  and  glosses ,  Fortune  Press , 
1927.  " 


22 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  3. 


selves  by  interfering  with  the  process  of 
normal  copulation  and  conception,  by 
obtaining  human  semen,  and  them¬ 
selves  transferring  it. 

Objection.  The  devil  can  perform  this 
act  in  every  state  of  life,  that  is  to  say, 
in  the  matrimonial  state,  or  not  in  the 
matrimonial  state.  Or  he  can  perform 
it  in  one  only  state.  Now  he  cannot 
perform  it  in  the  first  state,  because 
then  the  act  of  the  devil  would  be  more 
powerful  than  the  act  of  God,  Who  in¬ 
stituted  and  confirmed  this  holy  estate, 
since  it  is  a  state  of  continence  and 
wedlock.  Nor  can  he  effect  this  in  any 
other  estate :  since  we  never  read  in 
Scripture  that  children  can  be  begotten 
in  one  state  and  not  in  another. 

Moreover,  to  beget  a  child  is  the  act 
of  a  living  body,  but  devils  cannot  be¬ 
stow  life  upon  the  bodies  which  they 
assume ;  because  life  formally  only  pro¬ 
ceeds  from  the  soul,  and  the  act  of 
generation  is  the  act  of  the  physical 
organs  which  have  bodily  life.  There¬ 
fore  bodies  which  are  assumed  in  this 
way  cannot  either  beget  or  bear. 

Yet  it  may  be  said  that  these  devils 
assume  a  body  not  in  order  that  they 
may  bestow  life  upon  it,  but  that  they 
may  by  the  means  of  this  body  preserve 
human  semen,  and  pass  the  semen  on 
to  another  body. 

Objection.  As  in  the  action  of  angels, 
whether  they  be  good  or  bad,  there  is 
nothing  superfluous  and  useless,  nor  is 
there  anything  superfluous  and  useless 
in  nature.  But  the  devil  by  his  natural 
power,  which  is  far  greater  than  any 
human  bodily  power,  can  perform  any 
spiritual  action,  and  perform  it  again 
and  again  although  man  may  not  be 
able  to  discern  it.  Therefore  he  is  able 
to  perform  this  action,  although  man 
may  not  be  able  to  discern  when  the 
devil  is  concerned  therewith.  For  all 
bodily  and  material  things  are  on  a 
lower  scale  than  pure  and  spiritual  in¬ 
telligences.  But  the  angels,  whether 
they  be  good  or  whether  they  be  evil, 
are  pure  and  spiritual  intelligences. 
Therefore  they  can  control  what  is  be¬ 
low  them.  Therefore  the  devil  can  col¬ 
lect  and  make  use  as  he  will  of  human 
semen  which  belongs  to  the  body. 

However,  to  collect  human  semen 
from  one  person  and  to  transfer  it  to 
another  implies  certain  local  actions. 
But  devils  cannot  locally  move  bodies 
from  place  to  place.  And  this  is  the 


argument  they  put  forward.  The  soul 
is  purely  a  spiritual  essence,  so  is  the 
devil :  but  the  soul  cannot  move  a  body 
from  place  to  place  except  it  be  that 
body  in  which  it  lives  and  to  which  it 
ives  life :  whence  if  any  member  of  the 
ody  perishes  it  becomes  dead  and  im¬ 
movable.  Therefore  devils  cannot  move 
a  body  from  place  to  place,  except  it  be 
a  body  to  which  they  give  life.  It  has 
been  shown,  however,  and  is  acknow¬ 
ledged  that  devils  do  not  bestow  life  on 
anybody,  therefore  they  cannot  move 
human  semen  locally,  that  is,  from  place 
to  place,  from  body  to  body. 

Moreover,  every  action  is  performed 
by  contact,  and  especially  the  act  of 
generation.  But  it  does  not  seem  pos¬ 
sible  that  there  can  be  any  contact 
between  the  demon  and  human  bodies, 
since  he  has  no  actual  point  of  contact 
with  them.  Therefore  he  cannot  inject 
semen  into  a  human  body,  and  there¬ 
fore  since  this  needs  a  certain  bodily 
action,  it  would  seem  that  the  devil 
cannot  accomplish  it. 

Besides,  devils  have  no  power  to  move 
those  bodies  which  in  a  natural  order 
are  more  closely  related  to  them,  for 
example  the  heavenly  bodies,  therefore 
they  have  no  power  to  move  those 
bodies  which  are  more  distant  and  dis¬ 
tinct  from  them.  The  major  is  proved, 
since  the  power  that  moves  and  the 
movement  are  one  and  the  same  thing 
according  to  Aristotle  in  his  Physics.  It 
follows,  therefore,  that  devils  who  move 
heavenly  bodies  must  be  in  heaven, 
which  is  wholly  untrue,  both  in  our 
opinion  and  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Platonists. 

Moreover,  S.  Augustine,  On  the 
Trinity ,  III,  says  that  devils  do  indeed 
collect  human  semen,  by  means  of 
which  they  are  able  to  produce  bodily 
effects :  but  this  cannot  be  done  without 
some  local  movement,  therefore  demons 
can  transfer  the  semen  which  they  have 
collected  and  inject  it  into  the  bodies  of 
others.  But,  as  Walafrid  Strabo  says  in 
his  commentary  upon  Exodus  vii,  1 1  : 
And  Pharao  called  the  wise  men  and 
the  magicians:  Devils  go  about  the 
earth  collecting  every  sort  of  seed,  and 
can  by  working  upon  them  broadcast 
various  species.  See  also  the  gloss  on 
those  words  (Pharao  called).  And  again 
in  Genesis  vi  the  gloss  makes  two  com¬ 
ments  on  the  words:  And  the  sons  of 
God  saw  the  daughters  of  men.  First, 
that  by  the  sons  of  God  are  meant  the 


Part  I.  Question  3. 


MALEFICARUM 


23 


sons  of  Seth,  and  by  the  daughters  of 
men,  the  daughters  of  Cain.  Second, 
that  Giants  were  created  not  by  some 
incredible  act  of  men,  but  by  certain 
devils,  which  are  shameless  towards 
women.  For  the  Bible  says,  Giants  were 
upon  the  earth.  Moreover,  even  after 
the  Flood  the  bodies  not  only  of  men, 
but  also  of  women,  were  pre-eminently 
and  incredibly  beautiful. 

Answer.  For  the  sake  of  brevity  much 
concerning  the  power  of  the  devil  and 
his  works  in  the  matter  of  the  effects  of 
witchcraft  is  left  out;  for  the  pious 
reader  either  accepts  it  as  proved,  or  he 
may,  if  he  wish  to  inquire,  find  every 
point  clearly  elucidated  in  the  second 
Book  of  Sentences ,  5.  For  he  will  see  that 
the  devils  perform  all  their  works  con¬ 
sciously  and  voluntarily ;  for  the  nature 
that  was  given  them  has  not  been 
changed.  See  Dionysius*  in  his  fourth 
chapter  on  this  subject;  their  nature 
remained  intact  and  very  splendid, 
although  they  cannot  use  it  for  any 
good  purpose. 

And  as  to  their  intelligence,  he  will 
find  that  they  excel  in  three  points  of 
understanding,  that  is,  in  the  subtlety 
of  their  nature,  in  their  age-long  experi¬ 
ence,  and  in  the  revelation  of  the 
higher  spirits.  He  will  find  also  how, 
through  the  influence  of  the  stars,  they 
learn  the  dominating  characteristics  of 
men,  and  so  discover  that  some  are 
more  disposed  to  work  witchcraft  than 
others,  and  that  they  molest  these  chiefly 
for  the  purpose  of  such  works. 

*  “Dionysius”  A  series  of  famous  writings 
was  attributed  to  S.  Dionysius  the  Areopagite 
(“Acts”  xvii,  34),  who  was  also  popularly 
identified  with  the  Martyr  of  Gaul ,  the  first 
Bishop  of  Paris.  The  writings  themselves  form 
a  collection  of  four  treatises  and  ten  letters. 
These  will  all  be  found  in  Migne ,  “Patres 
Graeci,”  III.  The  treatises  are  generally  re¬ 
ferred  to  under  their  Latin  names ,  “De  Diuinis 
nominibus” ;  “Caelestis  hier archia” ;  “Ecclesi¬ 
astica  hierarchda” ;  “Theologia  mystica .” 
The  main  source  from  which  the  Middle  Ages 
obtained  a  knowledge  of  Dionysius  and  his 
doctrine  was  undoubtedly  the  Latin  translation 
by  Scotus  Eriugena,  made  about  838.  There  are 
ample  commen  taries  by  many  great  writers  such 
as  Hugh  of  Saint-Victor,  Blessed  Albertus 
Magnus,  S.  T  'homas,  and  Denys  the  Carthusian. 
The  works  of  ‘  Dionysius  the  Areopagite  and  the 
identification  >of  this  writer  with  S.  Denys  were 
accepted  by  S'aints  and  Schoolmen,  and  perhaps 
we  should  do  well  to  follow  them  without  curious 
questions  anal  impertinent  discussion. 


And  as  to  their  will,  the  reader  will 
find  that  it  cleaves  unchangeably  to 
evil,  and  that  they  continuously  sin  in 
pride,  envy,  and  gross  covetousness; 
and  that  God,  for  his  own  glory,  per¬ 
mits  them  to  work  against  His  will. 
He  will  also  understand  how  with  these 
two  qualities  of  intellect  and  will  devils 
do  marvels,  so  that  there  is  no  power 
in  earth  which  can  be  compared  to 
them :  Job  xli.  There  is  no  power  on  the 
earth  which  can  be  compared  with  him, 
who  was  created  that  he  should  fear  no 
one.  But  here  the  gloss  says,  Although 
he  fears  no  one  he  is  yet  subject  to  the 
merits  of  the  Saints. 

He  will  find  also  how  the  devil  knows 
the  thoughts  of  our  hearts ;  how  he  can 
substantially  and  disastrously  meta¬ 
morphose  bodies  with  the  help  of  an 
agent ;  how  he  can  move  bodies  locally, 
and  alter  the  outward  and  inner  feelings 
to  every  conceivable  extent;  and  how 
he  can  change  the  intellect  and  will  of 
a  man,  however  indirectly. 

For  although  all  this  is  pertinent  to 
our  present  inquiry,  we  wish  only  to 
draw  some  conclusion  therefrom  as  to 
the  nature  of  devils,  and  so  proceed  to 
the  discussion  of  our  question. 

Now  the  Theologians  have  ascribed 
to  them  certain  qualities,  as  that  they 
are  unclean  spirits,  yet  not  by  very 
nature  unclean.  For  according  to  Dio¬ 
nysius  there  is  in  them  a  natural  mad¬ 
ness,  a  rabid  concupiscence,  a  wanton 
fancy,  as  is  seen  from  their  spiritual  sins 
of  pride,  envy,  and  wrath.  For  this 
reason  they  are  the  enemies  of  the 
human  race :  rational  in  mind,  but 
reasoning  without  words ;  subtle  in 
wickedness,  eager  to  do  hurt ;  ever  fer¬ 
tile  in  fresh  deceptions,  they  change  the 
perceptions  and  befoul  the  emotions  of 
men,  they  confound  the  watchful,  and 
in  dreams  disturb  the  sleeping;  they 
bring  diseases,  stir  up  tempests,  disguise 
themselves  as  angels  of  light,  bear  Hell 
always  about  them;  from  witches  they 
usurp  to  themselves  the  worship  of  God, 
and  by  this  means  magic  spells  are 
made;  they  seek  to  get  a  mastery  over 
the  good,  and  molest  them  to  the  most 
of  their  power;  to  the  elect  they  are 
given  as  a  temptation,  and  always  they 
lie  in  wait  for  the  destruction  of  men. 

And  although  they  have  a  thousand 
ways  of  doing  harm,  and  have  tried  ever 
since  their  downfall  to  bring  about 
schisms  in  the  Church,  to  disable 
charity,  to  infect  with  the  gall  of  envy 


1 


24 


MALLEUS 


the  sweetness  of  the  acts  of  the  Saints, 
and  in  every  way  to  subvert  and  per¬ 
turb  the  human  race;  yet  their  power 
remains  confined  to  the  privy  parts  and 
the  navel.  See  Job  xli.  For  through  the 
wantonness  of  the  flesh  they  have  much 
power  over  men ;  and  in  men  the  source 
of  wantonness  lies  in  the  privy  parts, 
since  it  is  from  them  that  the  semen 
falls,  just  as  in  women  it  falls  from  the 
navel. 

These  things,  then,  being  granted  for 
a  proper  understanding  of  the  question 
of  Incubi  and  Succubi,  it  must  be  said 
that  it  is  just  as  Catholic  a  view  to  hold 
that  men  may  at  times  be  begotten  by 
means  of  Incubi  and  Succubi,  as  it  is 
contrary  to  the  words  of  the  Saints  and 
even  to  the  tradition  of  Holy  Scripture 
to  maintain  the  opposite  opinion.  And 
this  is  proved  as  follows.  S.  Augustine 
in  one  place  raises  this  question,  not 
indeed  as  regards  witches,  but  with 
reference  to  the  very  works  of  devils, 
and  to  the  fables  of  the  poets,  and 
leaves  the  matter  in  some  doubt ;  though 
later  on  he  is  definite  in  the  matter  of 
Holy  Scripture.  For  in  his  De  Ciuitate 
Dei ,  Book  3,  chapter  2,  he  says:  We 
leave  open  the  question  whether  it  was 
possible  for  Venus  to  give  birth  to 
Aeneas  through  coition  with  Anchises. 
For  a  similar  question  arises  in  the 
Scriptures,  where  it  is  asked  whether 
evil  angels  lay  with  the  daughters  of 
men,  and  thereby  the  earth  was  then 
filled  with  giants,  that  is  to  say,  preter- 
naturally  big  and  strong  men.  But  he 
settles  the  question  in  Book  5,  chapter 
23,  in  these  words:  It  is  a  very  general 
belief,  the  truth  of  which  is  vouched  for 
by  many  from  their  own  experience,  or 
at  least  from  hearsay  as  having  been 
experienced  by  men  of  undoubted 
trustworthiness,  that  Satyrs  and  Fauns 
(which  are  commonly  called  Incubi) 
have  appeared  to  wanton  women  and 
have  sought  and  obtained  coition  with 
them.  And  that  certain  devils  (which 
the  Gauls  call  Dusii)  assiduously  at¬ 
tempt  and  achieve  this  filthiness  is 
vouched  for  by  so  many  credible  wit¬ 
nesses  that  it  would  seem  impudent  to 
<  deny  it. 

Later  in  the  same  book  he  settles  the 
second  contention,  namely,  that  the 
passage  in  Genesis  about  the  sons  of 
God  (that  is  Seth)  and  the  daughters 
of  men  (that  is  Gain)  does  not  speak 
only  of  Incubi,  since  the  existence  of 
such  is  not  credible.  In  this  connexion 


Part  I.  Question  3. 

there  is  the  gloss  which  we  have  touched 
upon  before.  He  says  that  it  is  not 
outside  belief  that  the  Giants  of  whom 
the  Scripture  speaks  were  begotten  nott 
by  men,  but  by  Angels  or  certain  devils/? 
who  lust  after  women.  To  the  samer 
effect  is  the  gloss  on  Esaias  xiii,* * * §  where 
the  prophet  foretells  the  desolation  of 
Babylon,  and  the  monsters  that  should 
inhabit  it.  He  says :  Owls  shall  dwell 
there,  and  Satyrs  shall  dance  there./ 
By  Satyrs  here  devils  are  meant ;  as  the 
gloss  says,  Satyrs  are  wild  shaggy  crea¬ 
tures  of  the  woods,  which  are  a  certain 
kind  of  devils  called  Incubi.  And  again 
in  Esaias  xxxiv,  where  he  prophesies  the 
desolation  of  the  land  of  the  Idumeans 
because  they  persecuted  the  Jews,  he 
says:  And  it  shall  be  an  habitation  of 
dragons,  and  a  court  for  owls.  The  wild 
beasts  also  of  the  desert  shall  meet  .  .  . 
The  interlinear  gloss  interprets  this  as 
monsters  and  devils.  And  in  the  same 
place  Blessed  Gregory  explains  these  to 
be  woodland  gods  under  another  name^ 
not  those  which  the  Greeks  called  Pans, 
and  the  Latins  Incubi. 

Similarly  Blessed  Isidore,  in  the  last 
chapter  of  his  8th  book,  says:  Satyrs 
are  they  who  are  called  Pans  in  Greek*" 
and  Incubi  in  Latin.  And  they  are 
called  Incubi  from  their  practice  oT 
Overlaying,  f  that  is  debauching.  Fof 
they  often  lust  lecherously  after  women, 
and  copulate  with  them ;  and  the  Gauls* 
hame  them  Dusii,  |  because  they  are 
diligent  in  this  beastliness.  But  the  devj| 

!  which  the  common  people  call  an  In-} 
cubus,  the  Romans  called  a  fig  Faun;$' 

I  ■  0 


*  ‘'Esaias”  See  my  gloss  upon  this  passage , 
“ Demoniality ,”  Introduction ,  xxvi—xxviii. 

t  “ Overlaying .”  Nider,  “ Formicarius ,”  ix, 
writes:  “Incubi  dicuntur  ab  incumbendo ,  hoc  est 
struprando.” 

t  “Dusii”  “De  Ciuitate  Dei ”  XV,  23, 
where  S.  Augustine  has:  “Et  quosdam  daemones , 
quos  Dusios  Galli  nuncupant ,  adsidue  hanc 
immunditiam  et  tentare  et  efficere ,  plures 
talesque  adseuerant,  ut  hoc  negare  impudentiae 
uideatur.” 

§  “A  Fig  Faun.”  “Jeremias”  l,  33,  the 
desolation  of  Babylon,  has:  Propterea  habitabunt 
dracones  cum  faunis  ficariis:  et  habitabunt  in  ea 
struthiones:  et  non  inhabitabitur  ultra  usque  in 
sempiternum,  nec  exstruetur  usque  ad  genera¬ 
tionem,  et  generationem.  Which  Douay  trans¬ 
lates:  “Therefore  shall  dragons  dwell  there  with 
the  fig  fauns:  and  ostriches  shall  dwell  therein , 
and  it  shall  be  no  more  inherited  for  ever,  neither 
shall  it  be  built  up  from  generation  to  generation.” 
The  English  gloss  says:  ‘  ‘  Eig  fau  ns. 5  Monsters 


Part  I.  Question  3. 


MALEFICARUM 


25 


to  which  Horace  said,  “O  Faunus,  lover 
of  fleeing  nymphs,  go  gently  over  my 
lands  and  smiling  fields.’*  * 

As  to  that  of  S.  Paul  in  I.  Corinthians 
xi,  A  woman  ought  to  have  a  covering 
on  her  head,  because  of  the  angels, 

,  many  Catholics  believe  that  “because 
1  of  the  angels”  refers  to  Incubi.  Of  the 
same  opinion  is  the  Venerable  Bede  in 
his  History  of  the  English  ;*  also  William 
of  Parisj  *n  his  book  De  Uniuerso,  the 

\  of  the  desert ,  or  demons  in  monstrous  shapes: 
such  as  the  ancients  called  fauns'  and  ‘ satyrs' : 
and  as  they  imagined  them  to  live  upon  wild  figs , 
they  called  them  fauni  ficarii '  or  fig  fauns'  " 
Mirabeau ,  “ Erotika  Biblion”  ( pseudo-Rome ), 
1783,  under  “ Behemah "  writes:  “Les  satyr es,  les 
faunes,  les  Sgypans,  toutes  ces  fables  en  sont  une 
tradition  trh  remar quable.  Satan  en  arabe  signifie 
bouc ;  et  lebouc  expiatoire  nefut  ordonnS par  Moyse 
que  pour  ditourner  les  Israelites  du  gout  quits 
avoient  pour  cet  animal  lascifi  ( Maimonide  dans 
le  More  Nevochin,  p.  111,  c.  xlvi,  s’ e tend  sur  les 
cultes  des  boucs.)  Comme  il  est  dit  dans  V Exode 
qu'on  ne  pouvoit  voir  la  face  des  dieux,  les 
Israelites  etoient  persuades  que  les  demons  si 
faisoient  voir  sous  cette  forme.  ...  On  a  ensuite 
confondu  les  incubes  et  les  succubes  avec  les 
veritables  produits.  Jeremie  parle  de  faunes 
suffoquans.  (Jerem.,  I,  33.  Faunis  sicariis  et 
non  pas  ficariis.  Car  des  faunes  qui  avoient  des 
figues  ne  youdroit  Fen  dire.  Cependant.  Saci  la 
traduit  ainsi;  car  les  Jansenistes  affectent  la  plus 
grande  purete  des  moeurs,  mais  Berruyer  soutient 
le  ‘ Sicarii '  et  rend  ses  faunes  tres  actifs.) 
Heraclite  a  decrit  des  satyr  es  qui  vivoient  dans  les 
bois,  et  jouissoient  en  commun  des  femmes  dont  ils 
s'  emparoient . '  5  But  the  Vulgate  has  “ Fauni 
ficarii,"  which  settles  the  point.  That  the 
reading  was  very  disputed  is  clear  from  Nider, 

“ Formicarius who  has:  “ Quem  autem  uulgo 
Incubonem  uocant,  hunc  Romani  uicarium  dicunt. 
Ad  quem  Horatius  dicit:  Faune  Nympharum 
fugientium  amator  meos  per  fines  et  aprica  rura 
lenis  incedas.  Insuper  illud  Apostoli  I  Cor.  xi. 
Mulier  debet  uelamen  habere  super  caput  suum 
propter  Angelos:  Multi  Catholici  exponunt  quod 
sequitur,  propter  angelos,  id  est  Incubos."  The 
quotation  from  Horaee  is  “Carminum,"  III,  18. 

*  “Bede."  Born  672  or  673,  died  733.  This 
great  work,  “ Historia  Ecclesiastica  Gentis 
Anglorum,"  giving  an  account  of  Christianity  in 
England  from  the  beginning  until  his  own  day, 
has  been  recognized  as  a  masterpiece  by  the 
scholars  of  all  ages  and  countries.  An  authorita¬ 
tive  edition  was  published  by  Plummer,  two  vols., 
Oxford,  1836. 

t  “William  of  Paris."  William  of  Auvergne , 
the  celebrated  philosopher  and  theologian ,  was 
born  at  Aurillac  in  Auvergne  towards  the  end  of 
thy  twelfth  century,  and  died  at  Paris,  of  which 
city  he  had  in  1228  been  consecrated  Bishop,  in 
f  49-  Although  not  a  “Summa  theologica,"  his 
de  Universo"  is  a  practical  endeavour  to  found 

D 


last  part  of  the  6th  treatise.  Moreover, 
S.  Thomas  speaks  of  this  (I.  25  and 
II.  8,  and  elsewhere;  also  on  Esaias  xii 
and  xiv).  Therefore  he  says  that  it  is 
rash  to  deny  such  things.  For  that 
which  appears  true  to  many  cannot  be 
altogether  false,  according  to  Aristotle 
(at  the  end  of  the  De  somno  et  uigilia , 
and  in  the  2nd  Ethics ).  I  say  nothing 
of  the  many  authentic  histories,  both 
Catholic  and  heathen,  which  openly 
affirm  the  existence  of  Incubi. 

But  the  reason  that  devils  turn  them¬ 
selves  into  Incubi  or  Succubi  is  not  for 
the  cause  of  pleasure,  since  a  spirit  has 
not  flesh  and  blood;  but  chiefly  it  is 
with  this  intention,  that  through  the 
vice  of  luxury  they  may  work  a  twofold 
harm  against  men,  that  is,  in  body  and 
in  soul,  that  so  men  may  be  more  given 
to  all  vices.  And  there  is  no  doubt  that 
they  know  under  which  stars  the  semen 
is  most  vigorous,  and  that  men  so  con¬ 
ceived  will  be  always  perverted  by 
witchcraft. 

When  Almighty  God  had  enumerated 
many  vices  of  luxury  rife  among  the 
unbelievers  and  heretics,  from  which 
He  wished  His  people  to  be  clean,  He 
says  in  Leviticus  xviii:  Defile  not  ye 
yourselves  in  any  of  these  things :  for 
in  all  these  the  nations  are  defiled  which 
I  cast  out  before  you :  and  the  land  is 
defiled :  therefore  I  do  visit  the  iniquity 
thereof  upon  it.  The  gloss  explains  the 
word  “nations”  as  meaning  devils  who, 
on  account  of  their  multitude,  are  called 
the  nations  of  the  world,  and  rejoice  in 
all  sin,  especially  in  fornication  and 
idolatry^  because  by  these  are  defiled 
f he  body  and  the  soul,  and  the  whole 
man,  which  is  called  “the  land.”  For 
every  sin  that  a  man  commits  is  outside 
his  body,  but  the  man  who  commits 
fornication  sins  in  his  body.  If  anyone 
wishes  to  study  further  the  histories 
concerning  Incubi  and  Succubi,  let  him 
read  (as  has  been  said)  Bede  in  his  f  ? 
History  of  the  English ,  and  William,  and 
finally  Thomas  of  Brabant  in  his  book 
About  Bees. 

To  return  to  the  matter  in  hand. 


a  science  of  reality  on  principles  opposed  to  those 
of  the  Arabian  commentators  upon  and perverters 
of  Aristotle.  His  theological  works  are  par¬ 
ticularly  interesting  as  devotmg  much  attention 
to  a  refutation  of  the  Manichees,  whose  heresies 
had  been  recently  revived.  There  is  a  good  study 
by  Valois,  “ Guillaume  d' Auvergne,"  Paris . 
1880. 


26 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  3. 


And  first  for  the  natural  act  of  propa¬ 
gation  instituted  by  God,  that  is,  be¬ 
tween  male  and  female ;  that  as  though 
by  the  permission  of  God  the  Sacrament 
of  Matrimony  can  be  made  void  by  the 
work  of  the  devil  through  witchcraft,  as 
has  been  shown  above.  And  the  same 
is  much  more  strongly  true  of  any 
other  venereal  act  between  man  and 
woman. 

But  if  it  is  asked  why  the  devil  is 
allowed  to  cast  spells  upon  the  venereal 
act,  rather  than  upon  any  other  human 
act,  it  is  answered  that  many  reasons 
are  assigned  by  the  Doctors,  which  will 
be  discussed  later  in  the  part  concerning 
the  divine  permission.  For  the  present 
the  reason  that  has  been  mentioned 
before  must  suffice,  namely,  that  the 
power  of  the  devil  lies  in  the  privy  parts 
of  men.  For  of  all  struggles  those  are 
the  hardest  where  the  fight  is  continuous 
and  victory  rare.  And  it  is  unsound  to 
argue  that  in  that  case  the  work  of  the 
devil  is  stronger  than  the  work  of  God, 
since  the  matrimonial  act  instituted  by 
God  can  be  made  void :  for  the  devil 
does  not  make  it  void  by  violence,  since 
he  has  no  power  at  all  in  the  matter 
except  as  he  is  permitted  by  God. 
Therefore  it  would  be  better  to  argue 
from  this  that  he  is  powerless. 

Secondly,  it  is  true  that  to  procreate 
a  man  is  the  act  of  a  living  body.  But 
when  it  is  said  that  devils  cannot  give 
life,  because  that  flows  formally  from 
the  soul,  it  is  true;  but  materially  life 
springs  from  the  semen,  and  an  Incubus 
devil  can,  with  God’s  permissioh7~ac- 
c.omplish  this  by  coition.  And  the  semen 
does  not  so  much  spring  from  him,  as  it 
is  another  man’s  semen  received  by  him 
for  this  purpose  (see  S.  Thomas,  I.  51, 
art.  3).  For  the  devil  is  jSuccubus^to  a 
I  man,  and  becomes  Incubus  "to  a  woman. 
In  just  the  same  way  they  absorb  the 
seeds  of  other  things  for  the  generating 
of  various  things,  as  S.  Augustine  says, 
de  Trinitate  3. 

Now  it  may  be  asked,  of  whom  is  a 
child  so  born  the  son?  It  is  clear,  that 
he  is  not  the  son  of  the  devil,  but  of  the 
man  whose  semen  was  received.  But 
when  it  is  urged  that,  just  as  in  the 
works  of  Nature,  so  there  is  no  super¬ 
fluity  in  the  works  of  angels,  that  is 
granted;  but  when  it  is  inferred  that 
the  devil  can  receive  and  inject  semen 
invisibly,  this  also  is  true ;  but  he  prefers 
to  perform  this  visibly  as  a  Succubus 
and  an  Incubus,  that  by  such  filthiness 


he  may  infect  body  and  soul  of  all 
humanity,  that  is,  of  both  woman  and 
man,  there  being,  as  it  were,  actual 
bodily  contact. 

Moreover,  devils  can  do  invisibly 
more  things  which  they  are  not  per¬ 
mitted  to  do  visibly,  even  if  they  so 
wished;  but  they  are  allowed  to  do 
them  invisibly,  either  as  a  trial  for  the 
good,  or  as  a  punishment  for  the  wicked. 
Finally,  it  may  happen  that  another 
devil  may  take  the  place  of  the  Suc¬ 
cubus,  receive  the  semen  from  him,  and 
become  an  Incubus  in  the  place  of  the 
other  devil;  and  this  for  a  threefold 
reason.  Perhaps  because  one  devil, 
allotted  to  a  woman,  should  receive 
semen  from  another  devil?  allotted  to  a 
man,  that  in  this  way  each  of  them 
should  be  commissioned  by  the  prince 
of  devils  to  work  some  witchcraft ;  since 
to  each  one  is  allotted  his  own  angel, 
eTen^bnr^amongHEhe 
because  of  the  filthiness  of  the  deed, 
which  one  devil  would  abhor  to  com¬ 


mit.  For  in  many  inquiries  it  is  clearly 
shown  that  certain  devils,  out  of  some 
nobility  in  their  natures,  would  shrink 
from  a  filthy  action.  Or  it  may  be  m 
order  that  the  Incubus  may,  instead  of 
a  man’s  semen,  by  interposing  himself 
on  to  a  woman,  invisibly  inject  his  own 
semen,  that  is,  that  which  he  has  in¬ 
visibly  received.  And  it  is  not  foreign 
to  his  nature  or  power  to  effect  such  an 
interposition ;  since  even  in  bodily  form 
he  can  interpose  himself  invisibly  and 
without  physical  contact,  as  was  shown 
in  the  case  of  the  young  man  who  was 
betrothed  to  an  idol. 

Thirdly,  it  is  said  that  the  power  of 
an  angel  belongs  in  an  infinite  degree 
to  the  higher  things ;  that  is  to  say,  that 
his  power  cannot  be  comprehended  by 
the  lower  orders,  but  is  always  superior 
to  them,  so  that  it  is  not  limited  to  one 
effect  only.  For  the  highest  powers  have 
most  unbounded  influence  over  crea¬ 
tion.  But  because  he  is  said  to  be  infi¬ 
nitely  superior,  that  is  not  to  say  that 
he  is  indifferently  powerful  for  any  work 
that  is  propounded  for  him ;  for  then  he 
might  just  as  well  be  said  to  be  infinitely 
inferior,  as  superior. 

But  there  must  be  some  proportion 
between  the  agent  and  the  patient,  and 
there  can  be  no  proportion  between  a 
purely  spiritual  substance  and  a  cor¬ 
poreal  one.  Therefore  not  even  the 
devils  have  any  power  to  cause  an  effect, 
except  through  some  other  active 


Part  I.  Question  3.  MALEF 

medium.  And  this  is  why  they  use  the 
seeds  of  things  to  produce  their  effects ; 
see  S.  Augustine,  de  Trinitate ,  3.  Where¬ 
fore  this  argument  goes  back  to  the  pre¬ 
ceding  one,  and  is  not  strengthened  by 
it,  unless  anyone  wishes  for  S.  Augus¬ 
tine’s  explanation  why  the  Intelligences 
are  said  to  have  infinite  powers  .of  the 
higher  and  not  of  the  lower  degree, 
given  to  them  in  the  order  of  things 
corporeal  and  of  the  celestial  bodies, 
which  can  influence  many  and  infinite 
effects.  But  this  is  not  because  of  the 
weakness  of  the  inferior  powers.  And 
the  conclusion  is  that  devils,  even 
without  assuming  bodies,  can  work 
transmutations  in  semen ;  although  this 
is  no  argument  against  the  present  pro¬ 
position,  concerning  Incubi  and  Suc- 
cubi,  whose  actions  they  cannot  perform 
except  by  assuming  bodily  shape,  as  has 
been  considered  above. 

For  the  fourth  argument,  that  devils 
cannot  move  bodies  or  semen  locally, 
which  is  substantiated  by  the  analogy 
of  the  soul.  It  must  be  said  that  it  is  one 
thing  to  speak  of  the  spiritual  substance 
of  the  actual  angel  or  devil,  and  another 
thing  to  speak  of  the  actual  soul.  For 
the  reason  why  the  soul  cannot  locally 
move  a  body  unless  it  has  given  life  to 
it,  or  else  by  contact  of  a  living  body 
with  one  that  is  not  living,  is  this:  that 
the  soul  occupies  by  far  the  lowest  grade 
in  the  order  of  spiritual  beings,  and 
therefore  it  follows  that  there  must  be 
some  proportionate  relation  between  it 
and  the  body  which  it  is  able  to  move 
by  contact.  But  it  is  not  so  with  devils, 
whose  power  altogether  exceeds  cor¬ 
poreal  power. 

And  fifthly,  it  must  be  said  that  the 
contact  of  a  devil  with  a  body,  either  in 
the  way  of  semen  or  in  any  other  way, 
is  not  a  corporeal  but  a  virtual  contact, 
and  takes  place  in  accordance  with  the 
suitable  proportion  of  both  the  mover 
and  the  moved ;  provided  that  the  body 
which  is  moved  does  not  exceed  the 
proportion  of  the  devil’s  power.  And 
such  bodies  are  the  celestial  bodies,  and 
even  the  whole  earth  or  the  elements 
of  the  world,  the  power  of  which  we 
may  call  superior  on  the  authority  of 
S.  Thomas  in  his  questions  concerning 
Sin  (quest.  10,  de  Daemonibus).  For  this 
is  either  because  of  the  essence  of  nature, 
or  because  of  condemnation  for  sin.  For 
there  is  a  due  order  in  things,  in  accord¬ 
ance  both  with  their  very  nature  and 
with  their  motion.  And  just  as  the 


GARUM  27 

higher  heavenly  bodies  are  moved  by 
the  higher  spiritual  substances,  as  are 
the  good  Angels,  so  are  the  lower  bodies 
moved  by  the  lower  spiritual  substances, 
as  are  the  devils.  And  if  this  limitation 
of  the  devils’  power  is  due  to  the  essence 
of  nature,  it  is  held  by  some  that  the 
devils  are  not  of  the  order  of  those 
higher  angels,  but  are  part  of  this  terres¬ 
trial  order  created  by  God;  and  this 
was  the  opinion  of  the  Philosophers. 
And  if  it  is  due  to  condemnation  for  sin, 
as  is  held  by  the  Theologians,  then  they 
were  thrust  from  the  regions  of  heaven 
into  this  lower  atmosphere  for  a  punish¬ 
ment,  and  therefore  are  not  able  to 
move  either  it  or  the  earth. 

This  has  been  said  on  account  of  two 
easily  dispelled  arguments: — One,  re¬ 
garding  the  heavenly  bodies,  that  the 
devils  could  also  move  these,  if  they 
were  able  to  move  bodies  locally,  since 
the  stars  are  nearer  to  them  in  nature, 
as  also  the  last  argument  alleges.  The 
answer  is  that  this  is  not  valid;  for  if 
the  former  opinion  holds  good,  those 
bodies  exceed  the  proportion  of  the 
devils’  power :  and  if  the  second  is  true, 
then  again  they  cannot  move  them, 
because  of  their  punishment  for  sin. 

Also  there  is  the  argument  that  ob¬ 
jects  that  the  motion  of  the  whole  and 
of  the  part  is  the  same  thing,  just  as 
Aristotle  in  his  4th  Physics  instances  the 
case  of  the  whole  earth  and  a  clod  of 
soil;  and  that  therefore  if  the  devils 
could  move  a  part  of  the  earth,  they 
could  also  move  the  whole  earth.  But 
this  is  not  valid,  as  is  clear  to  anyone 
who  examines  the  distinction.  But  to 
collect  the  semen  of  things  and  apply  it 
to  certain  effects  does  not  exceed  their 
natural  power,  with  the  permission  of 
God,  as  is  self-evident. 

In  conclusion,  in  spite  of  the  conten¬ 
tion  of  some  that  devils  in  bodily  shape 
can  in  no  way  generate  children,  and 
that  by  the  “sons  of  God”  is  meant  the 
sons  of  Seth  and  not  Incubi  devils,  just 
as  by  the  “daughters  of  men”  is  meant 
the  descendants  of  Cain;  nevertheless 
the  contrary  is  clearly  affirmed  by 
many.  And  that  which  seems  true  to 
many  cannot  be  altogether  false,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Aristotle  in  his  6th  Ethics  and 
at  the  end  of  the  de  Somno  et  Uigilia.  And  \ 
now  also  in  modern  times  we  have  the 
well-attested  deeds  and  words  of  witches 
who  truly  and  actually  perform  such 
things. 

Therefore  we  make  three  proposi- 


28 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  4. 


tions.  First,  that  the  foulest  venereal 
acts  are  performed  by  such  devils,  not 
for  the  sake  of  delectation,  but  for  the 
pollution  of  the  souls  and  bodies  of  those 
to  whom  they  act  as  Succubi  or  Incubi. 
Second,  that  through  such  action  com¬ 
plete  conception  and  generation  by 
women  can  take  place,  inasmuch  as 
they  can  deposit  human  semen  in  the 
suitable  place  of  a  woman’s  womb 
where  there  is  already  a  corresponding 
substance.  In  the  same  way  they  can 
also  collect  the  seeds  of  other  things  for 
the  working  of  other  effects.  Third,  that 
in  the  begetting  of  such  children  only 
the  local  motion  is  to  be  attributed  to 
devils,  and  not  the  actual  begetting, 
which  arises  not  from  the  power  of  the 
devil  or  of  the  body  which  he  assumes, 
but  from  the  virtue  of  him  whose  semen 
it  was;  wherefore  the  child  is  the  son 
not  of  the  devil,  but  of  some  man. 

And  here  there  is  a  clear  answer  to 
those  who  would  contend  that  there  are 
two  reasons  why  devils  cannot  generate 
children : — First,  that  generation  is  ef¬ 
fected  by  the  formative  virtue  which 
exists  in  semen  released  from  a  living 
body;  and  that  because  the  body  as¬ 
sumed  by  devils  is  not  of  such  a  sort, 
therefore,  etc.  The  answer  is  clear,  that 
the  devil  deposits  naturally  formative 
semen  in  its  proper  place,  etc.  Secondly, 
it  may  be  argued  that  semen  has  no 
power  of  generation  except  as  long  as 
the  heat  of  life  is  retained  in  it,  and  that 
this  must  be  lost  when  it  is  carried  great 
distances.  The  answer  is  that  devils  are 
able  to  store  the  semen  safely,  so  that  its 
vital  heat  is  not  lost;  or  even  that  it 
cannot  evaporate  so  easily  on  account 
of  the  great  speed  at  which  they  move 
by  reason  of  the  superiority  of  the  mover 
over  the  thing  moved. 

☆ 

QUESTION  IV 

By  which  Devils  are  the  Operations  of  Incubus 
and  Succubus  Practised  ? 

IS  it  Catholic  to  affirm  that  the  func¬ 
tions  of  Incubi  and  Succubi  belong 
indifferently  and  equally  to  all  unclean 
spirits  ?  And  it  seems  that  it  is  so ;  for  to 
affirm  the  opposite  would  be  to  main¬ 
tain  that  there  is  some  good  order 
among  them.  It  is  argued  that  just  as  in 
the  computation  of  the  Good  there  are 
degrees  and  orders  (see  S.  Augustine  in 


his  book  on  the  nature  of  the  Good),  so 
also  the  computation  of  the  Evil  is  based 
upon  confusion.  But  as  among  the  good 
Angels  nothing  can  be  without  order,  so 
among  the  bad  all  is  disorder,  and  there¬ 
fore  they  all  indifferently  follow  these 
practices.  See  Job  x. :  A  land  of  dark¬ 
ness,  as  darkness  itself;  and  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  without  any  order, 
and  where  the  light  is  as  darkness. 

Again,  if  they  do  not  all  indifferently 
follow  these  practices,  this  quality  in 
them  comes  either  from  their  nature,  or 
from  sin,  or  from  punishment.  But  it  does 
not  come  from  their  nature,  since  they  are 
all  without  distinction  given  to  sin,  as  was 
set  out  in  the  preceding  question.  For 
they  are  by  nature  impure  spirits,  yet 
not  so  unclean  as  to  pejorate  theii  good 
parts ;  subtle  in  wickedness,  eager  to  do 
harm,  swollen  with  pride,  etc.  There¬ 
fore  these  practices  in  them  are  due 
either  to  sin  or  to  punishment.  Then 
again,  where  the  sin  is  greater,  there  is 
the  punishment  greater ;  and  the  higher 
angels  sinned  more  greatly,  therefore 
for  their  punishment  they  have  the  more 
to  follow  these  filthy  practices.  If  this  is 
not  so,  another  reason  will  be  given  why 
they  do  not  indifferently  practise  these 
things. 

And  again,  it  is  argued  that  where 
there  is  no  discipline  or  obedience,  there 
all  work  without  distinction;  and  it  is 
submitted  that  there  is  no  discipline  or 
obedience  among  devils,  and  no  agree¬ 
ment.  Proverbs  xiii. :  Among  the  proud 
there  is  always  contention. 

Again,  just  as  because  of  sin  they  will 
all  equally  be  cast  into  Hell  after  the 
Day  of  Judgement,  so  before  that  time 
they  are  detained  in  the  lower  mists 
on  account  of  the  duties  assigned  to 
them.  We  do  not  read  that  there  is 
equality  on  account  of  emancipation, 
therefore  neither  is  there  equality  in  the 
matter  of  duty  and  temptation. 

But  against  this  there  is  the  first  gloss 
on  1  Corinthians  xv :  As  long  as  the  ' 
world  endures  Angels  are  set  over  j 
Angels,  men  over  men,  and  devils  over ! 
devils.  Also  in  Job  xl  it  speaks  of  the  ^ 
scales  of  Leviathan,  which  signify  the  1’ 
members  of  the  devil,  how  one  cleaves 
to  another.  Therefore  there  is  among 
them  diversity  both  of  order  and  of 
action. 

Another  question  arises,  whether  or 
not  the  devils  can  be  restrained  by  the 
good  Angels  from  pursuing  these  foul 
practices.  It  must  be  said  that  the 


MALEFICARUM 


29 


Part  I.  Question  4. 


Angels  to  whose  command  the  adverse 
Influences  are  subject  are  called 
Powers,  as  S.  Gregory  says,  and  S. 
Augustine  [de  Trinitate ,  3).  A  rebellious 
and  sinful  spirit  of  life  is  subject  to  an 
obedient,  pious  and  just  spirit  of  life. 
And  those  Creatures  which  are  more 
perfect  and  nearer  to  God  have 
authority  over  the  others :  for  the 
whole  order  of  preference  is  originally 
and  in  the  first  place  in  God,  and  is 
shared  by  His  creatures  according  as 
they  approach  more  nearly  to  Him. 
Therefore  the  good  Angels,  who  are 
nearest  to  God  on  account  of  their 
fruition  in  Him,  which  the  devils  lack, 
have  preference  over  the  devils,  and 
rule  over  them. 

And  when  it  is  urged  that  devils 
work  much  harm  without  any  medium, 
or  that  they  are  not  hindered  because 
they  are  not  subject  to  good  Angels 
who  might  prevent  them;  or  that  if 
they  are  so  subject,  then  the  evil  that  is 
done  by  the  subject  is  due  to  negligence 
on  the  part  of  the  master,  and  there 
seems  to  be  some  negligence  among  the 
good  Angels:  the  answer  is  that  the 
Angels  are  ministers  of  the  Divine 
wisdom.  It  follows  then  that,  as  the 
Divine  wisdom  permits  certain  evil  to 
be  done  by  bad  Angels  or  men,  for  the 
sake  of  the  good  that  He  draws  there¬ 
from,  so  also  the  good  Angels  do  not 
altogether  prevent  wicked  men  or 
devils  from  doing  evil. 

Answer.  It  is  Catholic  to  maintain 
that  there  is  a  certain  order  of  interior 
and  exterior  actions,  and  a  degree  of 
preference  among  devils.  Whence  it 
follows  that  certain  abominations  are 
committed  by  the  lowest  orders,  from 
which  the  higher  orders  are  precluded 
on  account  of  the  nobility  of  their 
natumr  AnTfhls  is  generally  said  to 
arise  from  a  threefold  congruity,  in 
that  such  things  harmonize  with  their 
nature,  with  the  Divine  wisdom,  and 
with  their  own  wickedness. 


But  more  particularly  as  touching 
their  nature.  It  is  agreed  that  from  the 
beginning  of  Creation  some  were  always 
by  nature  superior,  since  they  differ 
among  themselves  as  to  form;  and  no 
two  Angels  are  alike  in  form.  This 
follows  the  more  general  opinion,  which 
also  agrees  with  the  words  of  the 
Philosophers.  Dionysius  also  lays  it 
down  in  his  tenth  chapter  On  the 
Celestial  Hierarchy  that  in  the  same  order 
there  are  three  separate  degrees;  and 


we  must  agree  with  this,  since  they  are 
both  immaterial  and  incorporeal.  See 
also  S.  Thomas  (ii.  2).  For  sin  does  not 
take  away  their  nature,  and  the  devils 
after  the  Fall  did  not  lose  their  natural 
gifts,  as  has  been  said  before;  and  the 
operations  of  things  follow  their  natural 
conditions.  Therefore  both  in  nature 
and  in  operation  they  are  various  and 
multiple. 

This  harmonizes  also  with  the  Divine 
wisdom ;  for  that  which  is  ordained  is 
ordained  by  God  ( Romans  xiii).  And 
since  devils  were  deputed  by  God  for 
the  temptation  of  men  and  the  punish¬ 
ment  of  the  damned,  therefore  they 
work  upon  men  from  without  by  many 
and  various  means. 

It  harmonizes  also  with  their  own 
wickedness.  For  since  they  are  at  war 
with  the  human  race,  they  fight  in  an 
orderly  manner ;  for  so  they  think  to  do 
greater  harm  to  men,  and  ,so  they  do. 
Whence  it  follows  that  they  do  not 
share  in  an  equal  manner  in  their  most 
unspeakable  abominations. 

And  this  is  more  specifically  proved 
as  follows.  For  since,  as  has  been  said, 
the  operation  follows  the  nature  of  the 
thing,  it  follows  also  that  those  whose 
natures  are  subordinate  must  in  turn 
be  subordinate  to  themselves  in  opera- 
tion,  just  as  is  the  case  in  corporeal 
matters.  For  since  the  lower  bodies  are 
by  natural  ordination  below  the  celestial 
bodies,  and  their  actions  and  motions 
are  subject  to  the  actions  and  motions 
of  the  celestial  bodies;  and  since  the 
devils,  as  has  been  said,  differ  among 
themselves  in  natural  order;  therefore 
they  also  differ  among  themselves  in 
their  natural  actions,  both  extrinsic  and 
intrinsic,  and  especially  in  the  perform¬ 
ance  of  the  abominations  in  question. 

From  which  it  is  concluded  that  since 
the  practice  of  these  abominations  is 
for  the  most  part  foreign  to  the  nobility 
of  the  angelic  nature,  so  also  in  human 
actions  the  foulest  and  beastliest  acts 
are  to  be  considered  by  themselves,  and 
not  in  relation  to  the  duty  of  human 
nature  and  procreation. 

Finally,  since  some  are  believed  to 
have  fallen  from  every  order,  it  is  not 
unsuitable  to  maintain  that  those  devils 
who  fell  from  the  lowest  choir,  and  even 
in  that  held  the  lowest  rank,  are 
deputed  to  and  perform  these  and  other 
abominations. 

Also  it  must  be  carefully  noted  that, 
though  the  Scripture  speaks  of  Incubi 


30 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  4. 


and  Succubi  lusting  after  women,  yet 
\  nowhere  do  we  read  that  Incubi  and 
Succubi  fell  into  vices  against  nature. 
We  do  not  speak  only  of  sodomy,  but  of 
any  other  sin  whereby  the  act  is  wrong¬ 
fully  performed  outside  the  rightful 
channel.  And  the  very  great  enormity 

Iof  such  as  sin  in  this  way  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  all  devils  equally,  of  what¬ 
soever  order,  abominate  and  think 
shame  to  commit  such  actions.  And  it 
seems  that  the  gloss  on  Ezekiel  xix  means 
this,  where  it  says :  I  will  give  thee 
into  the  hands  of  the  dwellers  in 
Palestine,  that  is  devils,  who  shall 
blush  at  your  iniquities,  meaning  vices 
against  nature.  And  the  student  will  see 
what  should  be  authoritatively  under¬ 
stood  concerning  devils.  For  no  sin  has 
God  so  often  punished  by  the  shameful 
death  of  multitudes. 

Indeed  many  *s2y5  and  it  is  truly  be¬ 
lieved,  that  no  one  can  unimperilled 
persevere  in  the  practice  of  such  vices 
beyond  the  period  of  the  mortal  life  of 
Christ,  which  lasted  for  thirty-three 
years,  unless  he  should  be  saved  by  some 
special  grace  of  the  Redeemer.  And  this 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that  there  have 
often  been  ensnared  by  this  vice  octo¬ 
genarians  and  centenarians,  who  had  up 
to  that  time  ruled  their  lives  according 
to  the  discipline  of  Christ ;  and,  having 
once  forsaken  Him,  they  have  found  the 
very  greatest  difficulty  in  obtaining 
deliverance,  and  in  abandoning  them¬ 
selves  to  such  vices. 

Moreover,  the  names  of  the  devils 
indicate  what  order  there  is  among 
them,  .and  what  office  is  assigned  to 
each.  For  though  one  and  the  same 
name,  that  of  devil,  is  generally  used 
in  Scripture  because  of  their  various 
qualities,  yet  the  Scriptures  teach  that 
One  is  set  over  these  filthy  actions,  just 
as  certain  other  vices  are  subject  to 
Another.  For  it  is  the  practice  of 
Scripture  and  of  speech  to  name  every 
unclean  spirit  Diabolus,  from  Dia,  that 
is  Two,  and  Bolus,  that  is  Morsel ; 
for  he  kills  two  things,  the  body  and  the 
soul.  And  this  is  in  accordance  with 
etymology,  although  in  Greek  Diabolus 
means  shut  in  Prison,  which  also  is 
apt,  since  he  is  not  permitted  to  do  as 
much  harm  as  he  wishes.  Or  Diabolus 
may  mean  Downflowing,  since  he 
flowed  down,  that  is,  fell  down,  both 
specifically  and  locally.  He  is  also 
named  Demon,  that  is,  Cunning  over 
Blood,  since  he  thirsts  for  and  procures 


sin  with  a  threefold  knowledge,  being 
powerful  in  the  subtlety  of  his  nature, 
m  his  age-long  experience,  and  in  the 
revelation  of  the  good  spirits.  He  is 
called  also  Belial,  which  means  Without 
Yoke  or  Master ;  for  he  can  fight  against 
him  to  whom  he  should  be  subject.  He 
is  called  also  Beelzebub,  which  means 
Lord  of  Flies,  that  is,  of  the  souls  of 
sinners  who  have  left  the  true  faith  of 
Christ.  Also  Satan,  that  is,  the  Adver-/  [ 
sary;  see  1  S.  Peter  ii :  For  your  adver-. 
sary  the  devil  goeth  about,  etc.  Also 
Behemoth,  that  is,  Beast,  because  he 
makes  men  bestial. 

But  the  very  devil  of  Fornication,  and 
the  chief  of  that  abomination,  is  called 
Asmodeus,  which  means  the  Creature 
oFjuHgement :  for  because  of  this  kind  ' 
of  sin  a  terrible  judgement  was  executed 
upon  Sodom  and  the  four  other  cities. 
Similarly  the  devil  of  Pride  is  called 
Leviathan,  which  means  Their  Addi- 
tion ;  because  when  Lucifer  tempted 
our  first  parents  he  promised  them,  out 
of  his  pride,  the  addition  of  Divinity. 
Concerning  him  the  Lord  said  through 
Esaias :  I  shall  visit  it  upon  Leviathan, 
that  old  and  tortuous  serpent.  And 
the  devil  of  Avarice  and  Riches  is  called 
Mammon,  whom  also  Christ  mentions 
in  the  Gospel  ( S .  Matthew  vi) :  Ye  cannot 
serve  God,  etc. 

To  the  arguments.  First ,  that  good 
can  be  found  without  evil,  but  evil 
cannot  be  found  without  good ;  for  it  is 
poured  upon  a  creature  that  is  good  in 
itself.  And  therefore  the  devils,  in  so 
far  as  they  have  a  good  nature,  were 
ordained  in  the  course  of  nature ;  and 
for  their  actions  see  Job  x. 

Secondly ,  it  can  be  said  that  the  devils 
deputed  to  work  are  not  in  Hell,  but 
in  the  lower  mists.  And  they  have  here 
an  order  among  themselves,  which  they 
will  not  have  in  Hell.  From  which  it 
may  be  said  that  all  order  ceased 
among  them,  as  touching  the  attain¬ 
ment  of  blessedness,  at  that  time  when 
they  fell  irrecoverably  from  such  rank. 
And  it  may  be  said  that  even  in  Hell 
there  will  be  among  them  a  gradation 
of  power,  and  of  the  affliction  of 
punishments,  inasmuch  as  some,  and 
not  others,  will  be  deputed  to  torment 
the  souls.  But  this  gradation  will  come 
rather  from  God  than  from  themselves, 
as  will  also  their  torments. 

Thirdly ,  when  it  is  said  that  the 
higher  devils,  because  they  sinned  the 
more,  are  the  more  punished,  and 


MALEFICARUM 


3i 


Part  I.  Question  5. 


must  therefore  be  the  more  bound  to 
the  commission  of  these  filthy  acts, 
it  is  answered  that  sin  bears  relation 
to  punishment,  and  not  to  the  act  or 
operation  of  nature;  and  therefore  it 
is  by  reason  of  their  nobility  of  nature 
that  these  are  not  given  to  such  filthi¬ 
ness,  and  it  has  nothing  to  do  with 
their  sin  or  punishment.  And  though 
they  are  all  impure  spirits,  and  eager 
to  do  harm,  yet  one  is  more  so  than 
another,  in  proportion  as  their  natures 
are  the  further  thrust  into  darkness. 

Fourthly ,  it  is  said  that  there  is  agree¬ 
ment  among  devils,  but  of  wickedness 
rather  than  friendship,  in  that  they 
hate  mankind,  and  strive  their  utmost 
against  justice.  For  such  agreement  is 
found  among  the  wicked,  that  they 
band  themselves  together,  and  depute 
those  whose  talents  seem  suitable  to 
the  pursuit  of  particular  iniquities. 

Fifthly ,  although  imprisonment  is 
equally  decreed  for  all,  now  in  the 
lower  atmosphere  and  afterwards  in 
Hell,  yet  not  therefore  are  equal 
penalties  and  duties  equally  ordained 
for  them:  for  the  nobler  they  are  in 
nature  and  the  more  potent  in  office, 
the  heavier  is  the  torment  to  which 
they  are  subjected.  See  Wisdom  vi: 
“The  powerful  shall  powerfully  suffer 
torments.” 

☆ 

QUESTION  V 

What  is  the  Source  of  the  Increase  of  Works 
of  Witchcraft?  Whence  comes  it  that 
the  Practice  of  Witchcraft  hath  so 
notably  increased? 

IS  it  in  any  way  a  Gatholic  opinion 
to  hold  that  the  origin  and  growth 
of  works  of  witchcraft  proceed  from 
the  influence  of  the  celestial  bodies ;  or 
from  the  abundant  wickedness  of  men, 
and  not  from  the  abominations  of 
Incubi  and  Succubi?  And  it  seems  that 
it  springs  from  man’s  own  wickedness. 
For  S.  Augustine  says,  in  Book  LXXXIII, 
that  the  cause  of  a  man’s  depravity 
lies  in  his  own  will,  whether  he  sins  at 
his  own  or  at  another’s  suggestion. 
But  a  witch  is  depraved  through  sin, 
therefore  the  cause  of  it  is  not  the  devil 
but  human  will.  In  the  same  place  he 
speaks  of  free-will,  that  everyone  is  the 
cause  of  his  own  wickedness.  And  he 
reasons  thus :  that  the  sin  of  man  pro¬ 
ceeds  from  free-will,  but  the  devil  can¬ 


not  destroy  free-will,  for  this  would 
militate  against  liberty:  therefore  the 
devil  cannot  be  the  cause  of  that  or  any 
other  sin.  Again,  in  the  book  of 
Ecclesiastic  Dogma  it  is  said:  Not  all 
our  evil  thoughts  are  stirred  up  by  the 
devil,  but  sometimes  they  arise  from 
the  operation  of  our  own  judgement. 

But  it  is  submitted  that  the  true 
source  of  witchcraft  is  the  influence 
of  the  celestial  bodies,  and  not  devils. 
Just  as  every  multitude  is  reduced  to 
unity,  so  all  that  is  multiform  is  reduced 
to  some  uniform  beginning.  But  the 
acts  of  men,  both  in  vice  and  in  virtue, 
are  various  and  multiform,  therefore  it 
seems  that  they  may  be  reduced  to 
some  beginnings  uniformly  moved  and 
moving.  But  such  can  only  be  assigned 
to  the  motions  of  the  stars;  therefore 
those  bodies  are  the  causes  of  such 
actions. 

Again,  if  the  stars  were  not  the  cause 
of  human  actions  both  good  and  bad, 
Astrologers  would  not  so  frequently 
foretell  the  truth  about  the  result  of 
wars  and  other  human  acts :  therefore 
they  are  in  some  way  a  cause. 

Again,  the  stars  can  influence  the 
devils  themselves  in  the  causing  of 
certain  spells;  and  therefore  they  can 
all  the  more  influence  men.  Three 
proofs  are  adduced  for  this  assumption. 
For  certain  men  who  are  called  Lunh- 
tics  are  molested  by  devils  more  at  one 
time  than  at  another ;  and  the  devils 
would  not  so  behave,  but  would  rather 
molest  them  at  all  times,  unless  they 
themselves  were  deeply  affected  by 
certain  phases  of  the  Moon.  It  is 
proved  again  from  the  fact  that  Necro¬ 
mancers  observe  certain  constellations 
for  the  invoking  of  devils,  which  they 
would  not  do  unless  they  knew  that 
those  devils  were  subject  to  the  stars. 

And  this  also  is  adduced  as  a  proof ; 
that  according  to  S.  Augustine  (de 
duitate  Dei,  10),  the  devils  employ 
certain  lower  bodies,  such  as  herbs, 
stones, .  animals,  and  certain  sounds 
and  voices,  and  figures.  But  since  the 
heavenly  bodies  are  of  more  potency 
than  the  lower  bodies,  therefore  the 
stars  are  a  far  greater  influence  than 
these  things.  And  witches  are  the  more 
in  subjection  in  that  their  deeds  pro¬ 
ceed  from  the  influence  of  those  bodies, 
and  not  from  the  help  of  evil  spirits. 
And  the  argument  is  supported  from 
1  Kings  xvi,  where  Saul  was  vexed  by  a 
devil,  but  was  calmed  when  David 


32 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  5. 


struck  his  harp  before  him,  and  the  evil 
spirit  departed. 

But  against  this.  It  is  impossible  to 
produce  an  effect  without  its  cause ;  and 
the  deeds  of  witches  are  such  that  they 
cannot  be  done  without  the  help  of 
devils,  as  is  shown  by  the  description 
of  witches  in  S.  Isidore,  Ethics  VIII. 
Witches  are  so  called  from  the  enormity 
of  their  magic  spells;  for  they  disturb 
the  elements  and  confound  the  minds 
of  men,  and  without  anv  venomous 
draught,  but  merely  by  virtue  of  mean- 
tations,  destroy  souls,  etc.  but  this  sort 
of  effects  cannot  be  caused  by  the 
influence  of  the  stars  through  the 
agency  of  a  man. 

Besides,  Aristotle  says  in  his  Ethics 
that  it  is  difficult  to  know  what  is  the 
beginning  of  the  operation  of  thought, 
and  shows  that  it  must  be  something 
extrinsic.  For  everything  that  begins 
from  the  beginning  has  some  cause. 
Now  a  man  begins  to  do  that  which  he 
wills ;  and  he  begins  to  will  because  of 
some  pre-suggestion ;  and  if  this  is 
some  precedent  suggestion,  it  must 
either  proceed  from  the  infinite,  or 
there  is  some  extrinsic  beginning  which 
first  brings  a  suggestion  to  a  man. 
Unless  indeed  it  be  argued  that  this  is  a 
matter  of  chance,  from  which  it  would 
follow  that  all  human  actions  are 
fortuitous,  which  is  absurd.  Therefore 
the  beginning  of  good  in  the  good  is 
said  to  be  God,  Who  is  not  the  cause  of 
sin.  But  for  the  wicked,  when  a  man 
begins  to  be  influenced  towards  and 
wills  to  commit  sin,  there  must  also 
be  some  extrinsic  cause  of  this.  And 
this  can  be  no  other  than  the  devil; 
especially  in  the  case  of  witches,  as  is 
shown  above,  for  the  stars  cannot 
influence  such  acts.  Therefore  the  truth 
is  plain. 

Moreover,  that  which  has  power  over 
the  motive  has  also  power  over  the 
result  which  is  caused  by  the  motive. 
Now  the  motive  of  the  will  is  something 
perceived  through  the  senses  or  the 
intellect,  both  of  which  are  subject  to 
the  power  of  the  devil.  For  S.  Augustine 
says  in  Book  83 :  This  evil,  which 
is  of  the  devil,  creeps  in  by  all  the 
sensual  approaches;  he  places  himself 
in  figures,  he  adapts  himself  to  colours, 
he  attaches  himself  to  sounds,  he  lurks 
in  angry  and  wrongful  conversation,  he 
abides  in  smells,  he  impregnates  with 
flavours  and  fills  with  certain  exhala¬ 
tions  all  the  channels  of  the  under¬ 


standing.  Therefore  it  is  seen  that  it  is 
in  the  devil’s  power  to  influence  the 
will,  which  is  directly  the  cause  of  sin. 

Besides,  everything  which  has  a 
choice  of  two  ways  needs  some  deter¬ 
mining  factor  before  it  proceeds  to 
action.  And  the  free-will  of  man  has 
the  choice  between  good  and  ill ;  there¬ 
fore  when  he  embarks  upon  sin,  it  needs 
that  he  is  determined  by  something 
towards  ill.  And  this  seems  chiefly  to 
be  done  by  the  devil,  especially  in  the 
actions  of  witches,  whose  will  is  made 
up  for  evil.  Therefore  it  seems  that  the 
evil  will  of  the  devil  is  the  cause  of  evil 
will  in  man,  especially  in  witches.  And 
the  argument  may  be  substantiated 
thus ;  that  just  as  a  good  Angel  cleaves 
to  good,  so  does  a  bad  Angel  to  evil; 
but  the  former  leads  a  man  into  good¬ 
ness,  therefore  the  latter  leads  him  into 
evil.  For  it  is,  says  Dionysius,  the 
unalterable  and  fixed  law  of  divinity, 
that  the  lowest  has  its  cause  in  the 
highest. 

Answer.  Such  as  contend  that  witch¬ 
craft  has  its  origin  in  the  influence  of  the 
stars  stand  convicted  of  three  errors. 
In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  possible 
that  i  t  originated  from  astromancers  and 
casters  of  horoscopes  and  fortune¬ 
tellers.  For  if  it  is  asked  whether  the 
vice  of  witchcraft  in  men  is  caused  by  the 
influence  of  the  stars,  then,  in  con¬ 
sideration  of  the  variety  of  men’s 
characters,  and  for  the  upholding  of  the 
true  faith,  a  distinction  must  be  main¬ 
tained  ;  namely,  that  there  are  two 
ways  in  which  it  can  be  understood 
that  men’s  characters  can  be  caused  by 
the  stars.  Either  completely  and  of 
necessity,  or  by  disposition  and  con¬ 
tingency.  And  as  for  the  first,  it  is  not 
only  false,  but  so  heretical  and  contrary 
to  the  Christian  religion,  that  the  true 
faith  cannot  be  maintained  in  such  an 
error.  For  this  reason,  he  who  argues 
that  everything  of  necessity  proceeds 
from  the  stars  takes  away  all  merit  and, 
in  consequence,  all  blame :  also  he 
takes  away  Grace,  and  therefore  Glory. 
For  uprightness  of  character  suffers 
prejudice  by  this  error,  since  the  blame 
of  the  sinner  redounds  upon  the  stars, 
licence  to  sin  without  culpability  is 
conceded,  and  man  is  committed  to  the 
worship  and  adoration  of  the  stars. 

But  as  for  the  contention  that  men’s 
characters  are  conditionally  varied  by 
the  disposition  of  the  stars,  it  is  so  far 
true  that  is  it  not  contrary  to  reason  or 


Part  1.  Question  5. 


MALEFICARUM 


33 


faith.  For  it  is  obvious  that  the  disposi¬ 
tion  of  a  body  variously  causes  many 
variations  in  the  humours  and  character 
of  the  soul;  for  generally  the  soul 
imitates  the  complexions  of  the  body,  as 
it  is  said  in  the  Six  Principles.  Where¬ 
fore  the  choleric  are  wrathful,  the 
sanguine  are  kindly,  the  melancholy  are 
envious,  and  the  phlegmatic  are  sloth¬ 
ful.  But  this  is  not  absolute;  for  the 
soul  is  master  of  its  body,  especially 
when  it  is  helped  by  Grace.  And  we  see 
many  choleric  who  are  gentle,  and 
melancholy  who  are  kindly.  Therefore 
when  the  virtue  of  the  stars  influences 
the  formation  and  quality  of  a  man’s 
humours,  it  is  agreed  that  they  have 
some  influence  over  the  character,  but 
very  distantly:  for  the  virtue  of  the 
lower  nature  has  more  effect  on  the 
quality  of  the  humours  than  has  the 
virtue  of  the  stars. 

Wherefore  S.  Augustine  (de  Ciuitate 
Dei ,  V),  where  he  resolves  a  certain 
question  of  two  brothers  who  fell  ill 
and  were  cured  simultaneously,  ap¬ 
proves  the  reasoning  of  Hippocrates 
rather  than  that  of  an  Astronomer.  For 
Hippocrates  answered  that  it  was  owing 
to  the  similarity  of  their  humours ;  and 
the  Astronomer  answered  that  it  was 
owing  to  the  identity  of  their  horo¬ 
scopes.  For  the  Physician’s  answer  was 
better,  since  he  adduced  the  more 
powerful  and  immediate  cause.  Thus, 
therefore,  it  must  be  said  that  the 
influence  of  the  stars  is  to  some  degree 
conducive  to  the  wickedness  of  witches, 
if  it  be  granted  that  there  is  any  such 
influence  over  their  bodies  that  predis¬ 
poses  them  to  this  manner  of  abomina¬ 
tion  rather  than  to  any  other  sort  of 
works  either  vicious  or  virtuous :  but 
this  disposition  must  not  be  said  to  be 
necessary,  immediate,  and  sufficient, 
but  remote  and  contingent. 

Neither  is  that  objection  valid  which 
is  based  on  the  book  of  the  Philosophers 
on  the  properties  of  the  elements,  where 
it  says  that  kingdoms  are  emptied  and 
lands  depopulated  at  the  conjunction  of 
Jupiter  and  Saturn;  and  it  is  argued 
from  this  that  such  things  are  to  be 
understood  as  being  outside  the  free¬ 
will  of  men,  and  that  therefore  the 
influence  of  the  stars  has  power  over 
free-will.  For  it  is  answered  that  in  this 
saying  the  Philosopher  does  not  mean  to 
imply  that  men  cannot  resist  the 
influence  of  that  constellation  towards 
dissensions,  but  that  they  will  not.  For 


Ptolemy  in  Almagest *  says :  A  wise  man 
will  be  the  master  of  the  stars. f  For 
although,  since  Saturn  has  a  melan- 


*  “Almagest .”  Claudius  Ptolemaus  was  a 
celebrated  mathematician,  astronomer ,  and  geo - 
grapher.  Of  the  details  of  his  life  nothing 
appears  to  be  known  beyond  the  facts  that  he  was 
certainly  at  Alexandria  in  a.d.  133,  and  since  he 
survived  Antoninus  Pius  he  was  alive  later  than 
March ,  161.  His  “ Geography ,”  retoypa^ixr] 
\><f>T]yrfsi<i,  is  very  famous,  but  perhaps  even 
more  celebrated  was  the  MeyocXt)  aovraJitc  tt]<; 
darpovopha?,  usually  known  by  its  Arabic 
name  of  Almagest.  Since  the  “  Tetrabiblus,” 
the  work  on  astrology,  was  also  entitled  auvxa^u;, 
the  Arabs,  to  distinguish  the  two,  called  the 
greater  work  (xeyaXi),  and  afterwards  \izyiaxri; 
the  title  “ Almagest ”  is  a  compound  of  this  last 
adjective  and  the  Arabic  article.  The  work  is 
divided  into  thirteen  books ,  of  which  VII  and 
VIII  are  the  most  interesting  to  the  modem 
astronomer,  as  they  give  a  catalogue  of  the  stars. 
The  best  edition  of  the  “ Almagest ”  is  con¬ 
sidered  to  be  that  by  Halma,  Paris ,  1813-16, 
two  vols .,  qto. 

t  “ Sapiens  homo  dominabitur  astris This 
famous  tag  is  continually  quoted.  Cf.  Tomkis ’ 
“ Albumazar ”  ( acted  at  Cambridge,  March , 
1613),  I,  7,  where  Albumazar  says: 

Indeed  th ’  ^Egyptian  Ptolemy,  the  wise , 

Pronounc’d  it  as  an  oracle  of  truth , 
Sapiens  dominabitur  astris. 

In  Book  III,  Epigram  186,  of  John  Owen’s  first 
published  volume,  we  get: 

“ Fata  regunt  reges;  sapiens  dominabitur 
astris .” 

Sir  Sampson  Legend  in  Congreve’s  “ Love  for 
Love,”  produced  at  Lincoln’s  Inn  Fields ,  30 
April,  1633,  II,  1,  bantering  old  Foresight ,  who 
loudly  acclaims  the  influence  of  the  stars,  throws 
at  him:  “ I  tell  you  I  am  wise ;  and  sapiens 
dominabitur  astris ;  there’s  Latin  for  you  to 
prove  it.”  According  to  W.  Aldis  Wright’s  note 
on  Bacon’s  “ Advancement  of  Learning II, 
xxiii,  12:  “Mr.  Ellis  says  this  sentence  is 
ascribed  to  Ptolemy  by  Cognatus.”  The  refer¬ 
ence  is  to  Cognati’ s  collection  of  Adages,  which 
together  with  the  “ Adagia ”  of  Erasmus  and 
other  famous  repertories  of  saws  and  proverbs 
may  be  found  in  the  volume  “ Adagia ”  compiled 
by  Joynaeus.  Joannes  Nevizanus,  “ Sylva 
Nuptialis,”  II,  36,  notes:  “ Dicit  tamen  Bal.  in 
c.j.  at  lite  pand.  quod  sapiens  dominabitur 
astris.”  Bal.  is  Baldus,  Baldo  degli  Ubaldi 
( b .  1327),  the  most  famous  canonist  of  his  day 
and  Professor  utriusque  iuris  at  the  Univer¬ 
sities  of  Padua,  Perugia,  and  Piacenza,  who 
wrote  ample  glosses  on  the  “ Corpus  Iuris 
Ciuilis.”  Burton,  “ Anatomy  of  Melancholy,” 
quotes  “sapiens,”  etc.,  and  A.  R.  Shilleto  in  his 
notes  says  that  it  is  also  cited  by  Jeremy  Taylor, 
and  that  C.  G.  Eden,  his  best  editor,  could  not 
trace  the  origin  of  the  phrase. 


34 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  5. 


choly  and  bad  influence  and  Jupiter  a 
very  good  influence,  the  conjunction  of 
Jupiter  and  Saturn  can  dispose  men  to 
quarrels  and  discords ;  yet,  through 
free-will,  men  can  resist  that  inclination, 
and  very  easily  with  the  help  of  God’s 
grace. 

And  again  it  is  no  valid  objection  to 
quote  S.  John  Damascene*  where  he 
says  (Book  II,  chap,  vi)  that  comets  are 
often  the  sign  of  the  death  of  kings.  For 
it  will  be  answered  that  even  if  we 
follow  the  opinion  of  S.  John  Damascene, 
which  was,  as  is  evident  in  the  book 
referred  to,  contrary  to  the  opinion 
of  the  Philosophic  Way,  yet  this  is  no 
proof  of  the  inevitability  of  human 
actions.  For  S.  John  considers  that  a 
comet  is  not  a  natural  creation,  nor  is 
it  one  of  the  stars  set  in  the  firmament ; 
wherefore  neither  its  signification  nor 
influence  is  natural.  For  he  says  that 
comets  are  not  of  the  stars  which  were 
created  in  the  beginning,  but  that  they 
are  made  for  a  particular  occasion,  and 
then  dissolved,  by  Divine  command. 
This  then  is  the  opinion  of  S.  John 
Damascene.  But  God  by  such  a  sign 
foretells  the  death  of  kings  rather  than 
of  other  men,  both  because  a  king  is  a 
public  person,  and  because  from  this 
may  arise  the  confusion  of  a  kingdom. 
And  the  Angels  are  more  careful  to 
watch  over  kings  for  the  general  good; 
and  kings  are  born  and  die  under  the 
ministry  of  the  Angels. 

And  there  is  no  difficulty  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Philosophers,  who  say 
that  a  comet  is  a  hot  and  dry  con¬ 
glomeration,  generated  in  the  higher 


*  John”  S.  John  Damascene ,  Doctor  of 
the  Church,  was  born  at  Damascus  about  676 , 
and  died  some  time  between  754  and  787.  The 
quotation  is  from  ’TxSocj'.c  axpifirj^ 
opQoSo^ou  Tucrxews,  which  is  the  third  part  of 
the  most  important  of  all  his  works,  IT 7^ 
yvcuaeco?,  Fountain  of  Wisdom.  This  third  part, 
“The  Orthodox  Faith,”  to  which  reference  is 
made  here,  must  be  considered  the  most  notable 
of  all  the  writings  of  S.  John  Damascene,  and 
it  is  in  this  treatise  that  he  discloses  so  compre¬ 
hensive  a  knowledge  of  the  astronomy  of  his  day. 
It  may  be  pointed  out  that  Sprenger  regards  the 
authority  of  S.  John  far  too  lightly ,  for  the 
Doctor's  words  carry  great  weight.  The  only 
complete  edition  of  the  works  of  S.  John  Damas¬ 
cene  is  that  by  Michael  Lequien,  O.P.,  published 
at  Pans,  1717,  and  Venice,  1748.  Migne  has 
reprinted  this,  “Patres  Greed,”  XCIV-XCVI, 
with  the  addition  of  certain  works  by  some 
attributed  to  the  same  author. 


part  of  space  near  the  fire,  and  that  a 
conjoined  globe  of  that  hot  and  dry 
vapour  assumes  the  likeness  of  a  star. 
But  unincorporated  parts  of  that  vapour 
stretch  in  long  extremities  joined  to  that 
globe,  and  are  a  sort  of  adjunct  to  it. 
And  according  to  this  view,  not  of 
itself  but  by  accident,  it  predicts  death 
which  proceeds  from  hot  and  dry 
infirmities.  And  since  for  the  most  part 
the  rich  are  fed  on  things  of  a  hot  and 
dry  nature,  therefore  at  such  times 
many  of  the  rich  die ;  among  which  the 
death  of  kings  and  princes  is  the  most 
notable.  And  this  view  is  not  far  from 
the  view  of  S.  John  Damascene,  when 
carefully  considered,  except  as  regards 
the  operation  and  co-operation  of  the 
Angels,  which  not  even  the  philosophers 
can  ignore.  For  indeed  when  the 
vapours  in  their  dryness  and  heat  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  generation  of  a 
comet,  even  then,  for  reasons  already 
set  out,  a  comet  may  be  formed  by  the 
operation  of  an  Angel. 

In  this  way  the  star  which  portended 
the  death  of  the  learned  S.  Thomas  was 
not  one  of  the  stars  set  in  the  firma¬ 
ment,  but  was  formed  by  an  Angel  from 
some  convenient  material,  and,  having 
performed  its  office,  was  again  dissolved. 

From  this  we  see  that,  whichever  of 
those  opinions  we  follow,  the  stars  have 
no  inherent  influence  over  the  free 
will,  or,  consequently,  over  the  malice 
and  character  of  men. 

It  is  to  be  noted  also  that  Astronomers 
often  foretell  the  truth,  and  that  their 
judgements  are  for  the  most  part 
effective  on  one  province  or  one  nation. 
And  the  reason  is  that  they  take  their 
judgements  from  the  stars,  which, 
according  to  the  more  probable  view, 
have  a  greater,  though  not  an  inevitable, 
influence  over  the  actions  of  mankind 
in  general,  that  is,  over  one  nation  or 
province,  than  over  one  individual 
person ;  and  this  because  the  greater 
part  of  one  nation  more  closely  obeys 
the  natural  disposition  of  the  body  than 
does  one  single  man.  But  this  is  men¬ 
tioned  incidentally. 

And  the  second  of  the  three  ways  by 
which  we  vindicate  the  Catholic  stand¬ 
point  is  by  refuting  the  errors  of  those 
who  cast  Horoscopes  and  Mathe¬ 
maticians!  who  worship  the  goddess  of 


f  “Mathematicians.”  Although  in  Cicero  and 
in  Seneca  mathematicus”  means  a  mathema¬ 
tician,  in  later  Latin  it  always  signifies  an 


Part  i.  Question  5. 


MALEFICARUM 


35 


fortune.  Of  these  S.  Isidore  ( Ethics , 
VIII.  9)  says  that  those  who  cast 
Horoscopes  are  so  called  from  their 
examination  of  the  stars  at  nativity, 
and  are  commonly  called  Mathe¬ 
maticians  ;  and  in  the  same  Book, 
chapter  2,  he  says  that  Fortune  has  her 
name  from  fortuitousness,  and  is  a  sort 
of  goddess  who  mocks  human  affairs 
in  a  haphazard  and  fortuitous  manner. 
Wherefore  she  is  called  blind,  since  she 
runs  here  and  there  with  no  considera¬ 
tion  for  desert,  and  comes  indifferently 
to  good  and  bad.  So  much  for  Isidore. 
But  to  believe  that  there  is  such  a 
goddess,  or  that  the  harm  done  to 
bodies  and  creatures  which  is  ascribed 
to  witchcraft  does  not  actually  proceed 
from  witchcraft,  but  from  that  same 
goddess  of  Fortune,  is  sheer  idolatry: 
and  also  to  assert  that  witches  them¬ 
selves  were  born  for  that  very  purpose 
that  they  might  perform  such  deeds  in 
the  world  is  similarly  alien  to  the  Faith, 
and  indeed  to  the  general  teaching  of 
the  Philosophers.  Anyone  who  pleases 
may  refer  to  S.  Thomas  in  the  3rd  book 
of  his  Summa  of  the  Faith  against  the 
Gentiles,  question  87,  etc.,  and  he  will 
find  much  to  this  effect. 

Nevertheless  one  point  must  not  be 
omitted,  for  the  sake  of  those  who  per- 

astrologer ,  a  diviner ,  a  wizard.  The  “ Mathe¬ 
matici ”  were  condemned  by  the  Roman  law  as 
exponents  of  black  magic.  Their  art  is  indeed 
forbidden  in  severest  terms  by  Diocletian  ( a.d . 
284-305 ):  “ Artem  geometriae  discere  atque 
exercere  publice  interest ,  ars  autem  mathematica 
damnabilis  interdicta  est  omnino .”  The  word 
“mathematician”  was  used  in  English  some¬ 
times  to  denote  an  astrologer,  a  fortune-teller. 
So  in  Shirley's  comedy  “ The  Sisters ,”  III, 
licensed  April,  1642,  when  the  bandits  dis¬ 
guised  as  diviners  visit  the  castle ,  Giovanni  enters 
crying  out:  “ Master  Steward,  yonder  are  the 
rarest  fellows!  In  such  fantastical  habits  too; 
they  call  themselves  mathematicians .”  “  What 
do  they  come  for?”  the  steward  asks.  “To  offer 
their  service  to  my  Lady,,  and  tell  fortunes,”  is 
the  reply.  When  Antonio  sees  them  he  grumbles: 

Her  house  is  open  for  these  mountebanks , 
Cheaters,  and  tumblers ,  that  can  foist  and  flatter 
My  lady  Gewgaw.  .  . 

What  are  you,  sir? 

Strozzo.  One  of  the  mathematicians ,  noble 
signior. 

Antonio.  Mathematicians!  mongrel, 

How  durst  thou  take  that  learned  name  upon 
thee? 

You  are  one  of  those  knaves  that  stroll  the 
country, 

And  live  by  picking  worms  out  of  fools'  fingers. 


haps  have  no  great  quantity  of  books. 

It  is  there  noted  that  three  things  are  to 
be  considered  in  man,  which  are 
directed  by  three  celestial  causes, 
namely,  the  act  of  the  will,  the  act  of 
the  intellect,  and  the  act  of  the  body. 
The  first  of  these  is  governed  directly 
and  solely  by  God,  the  second  by  an 
Angel,  and  the  third  by  a  celestial 
body.  For  choice  and  will  are  directly 
governed  by  God  for  good  works,  as 
the  Scripture  says  in  Proverbs  xxi  : 
The  heart  of  the  king  is  in  the  hand 
of  the  Lord;  he  turneth  it  whither¬ 
soever  he  will.  And  it  says  “the  heart 
of  the  king”  to  signify  that,  as  the 
great  cannot  oppose  His  will,  so  are 
others  even  less  able  to  do  so.  Also 
S.  Paul  says :  God  who  causeth  us  to 
wish  and  to  perform  that  which  is  good. 

The  human  understanding  is  governed 
by  God  through  the  mediation  of  an 
Angel.  And  those  bodily  actions,  either 
exterior  or  interior,  which  are  natural 
to  man,  are  regulated  by  God  through 
the  mediation  of  the  Angels  and  the 
celestial  bodies.  For  Blessed  Dionysius 
(de  Diuin.  nom.,  IV)  says  that  the  celestial 
bodies  are  the  causes  of  that  which 
happens  in  this  world ;  though  he  makes 
no  implication  of  fatality. 

And  since  man  is  governed  as  to  his 
body  by  the  celestial  bodies,  as  to  his 
intellect  by  the  Angels,  and  as  to  his 
will  by  God,  it  may  happen  that  if  he 
rejects  God’s  inspiration  towards  good¬ 
ness,  and  the  guidance  of  his  good 
Angel,  he  may  be  led  by  his  bodily 
affections  to  those  things  toward  which 
the  influence  of  the  stars  inclines  him, 
that  so  his  will  and  understanding 
become  entangled  in  malice  and  error. 

However,  it  is  not  possible  for  anyone 
to  be  influenced  by  the  stars  to  enter 
upon  that  sort  of  error  in  which  the 
witches  are  ensnared,  such  as  blood¬ 
shed,  theft  or  robbery,  or  even  the 
perpetration  of  the  worst  inconti¬ 
nences  ;  and  this  is  true  of  other  natural 
phenomena. 

Also,  as  William  of  Paris  says  in  his  .  . 
De  Uniuerso ,  it  is  proved  by  experience 
that  if  a  harlot  tries  to  plant  an  olive  * 
it  does  not  become  fruitful,  whereas  if 
it  is  planted  by  a  chaste  woman  it  is 
fruitful.  And  a  doctor  in  healing,  a 
farmer  in  planting,  or  a  soldier  in 
fighting  can  do  more  with  the  help  of 
the  influence  of  the  stars  than  another 
who  possesses  the  same  skill  can  do. 

Our  third  way  is  taken  from  the 


36 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  5. 


refutation  of  the  belief  in  Fate.  And 
here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  a  belief  in 
Fate  is  in  one  way  quite  Catholic,  but 
in  another  way  entirely  heretical.  For 
Fate  may  be  understood  after  the 
manner  of  certain  Gentiles  and  Mathe¬ 
maticians,  who  thought  that  the  differ¬ 
ent  characters  of  men  were  inevitably 
caused,  by  the  force  of  the  position  of 
the  stars,  so  that  a  wizard  was  pre¬ 
destined  to  be  such,  even  if  he  were  of  a 
good  character,  because  the  disposition 
of  the  stars  under  which  he  was  con¬ 
ceived  or  bom  caused  him  to  be  such  as 
he  was.  And  that  force  they  called  by 
the  name  of  Fate. 

But  that  opinion  is  not  only  false,  but 
heretical  and  altogether  detestable  on 
account  of  the  deprivation  which  it 
must  entail,  as  was  shown  above  in  the 
refutation  of  the  first  error.  For  by  it 
would  be  removed  all  reason  for  merit 
or  blame,  for  grace  and  glory,  and  God 
would  be  made  the  author  of  our 
evil,  and  more  such  incongruities. 
Therefore  such  conception  of  Fate 
must  be  altogether  rejected,  since  there 
is  no  such  thing.  And  touching  this 
belief  S.  Gregory  says  in  his  Homily 
on  the  Epiphany:  Far  be  it  from  the 
hearts  of  the  faithful  to  say  that  there  is 
any  Fate. 

And  although,  on  account  of  the 
same  incongruity  which  is  detected  in 
both,  this  opinion  may  seem  to  be  the 
same  as  that  concerning  the  Astrologers, 
they  are  yet  different  inasmuch  as  they 
disagree  concerning  the  force  of  the 
stars  and  the  influx  of  the  seven 
Planets. 

But  Fate  may  be  considered  to  be  a 
sort  of  second  disposition,  or  an  ordina¬ 
tion  of  second  causes  for  the  production 
of  foreseen  Divine  effects.  And  in  this 
way  Fate  is  truly  something.  For  the 
providence  of  God  accomplishes  His 
effects  through  mediating  causes,  in  such 
matters  as  are  subject  to  second  causes ; 
though  this  is  not  so  in  the  case  of  some 
other  matters,  such  as  the  creation  of 
souls,  glorification,  and  the  acquisition 
of  grace. 

Also  the  Angels  may  co-operate  in  the 
infusion  of  Grace  by  enlightening  and 
guiding  the  understanding  and  the 
capability  of  the  will,  and  so  a  certain 
arrangement  of  results  may  be  said  to 
be  one  and  the  same  as  Providence  or 
even  Fate.  For  it  is  considered  in  this 
way;  that  there  is  in  God  a  quality 
which  may  be  called  Providence,  or  it 


may  be  said  that  He  has  ordained 
intermediary  causes  for  the  realization 
of  some  of  His  purposes;  and  to  this 
extent  Fate  is  a  rational  fact.  And  in 
this  way  Boethius  speaks  of  Fate  (de 
Consolatione  IV)  :  Fate  is  an  inherent 
disposition  in  things  mobile,  by  which 
Providence  binds  things  to  that  which 
It  has  ordained. 

Nevertheless  the  learned  Saints  re¬ 
fused  to  use  this  name,  on  account  of 
those  who  twisted  its  meaning  to  the 
force  of  the  position  of  the  stars. 
Wherefore  S.  Augustine  (de  Ciuitate  Dei, 
V)  says :  If  anyone  attributed  human 
affairs  to  Fate,  meaning  by  Fate  the 
Will  and  Power  of  God,  let  him  keep 
his  opinion  but  amend  his  tongue. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  what  has  been 
said  provides  a  sufficient  answer  to  the 
question  whether  all  things,  including 
works  of  witchcraft,  are  subject  to 
Fate.  For  if  Fate  is  said  to  be  the  ordain- 
ment  of  second  causes  of  foreseen 
Divine  results,  that  is,  when  God  wills 
to  effect  His  purposes  through  second 
causes;  to  that  extent  they  are  subject 
to  Fate,  that  is,  to  second  causes  so 
ordained  by  God ;  and  the  influence  of 
the  stars  is  one  of  these  second  causes. 
But  those  things  which  come  directly 
from  God,  such  as  the  Creation  of 
things,  the  Glorification  of  things  sub¬ 
stantial  and  spiritual,  and  other  things 
of  this  sort,  are  not  subject  to  such 
Fate.  And  Boethius,  in  the  book  we 
have  quoted,  supports  this  view  when 
he  says  that  those  things  which  are  near 
to  the  primal  Deity  are  beyond  the 
influence  of  the  decrees  of  Fate.  There¬ 
fore  the  works  of  witches,  being  outside 
the  common  course  and  order  of 
nature,  are  not  subject  to  these  second 
causes.  That  is  to  say,  that  as  regards 
their  origin  they  are  not  subject  willy- 
nilly  to  Fate,  but  to  other  causes. 

Witchcraft  is  not  caused  by  the  Powers 
that  Move  the  Stars. 

It  follows  that,  just  as  witchcraft  can¬ 
not  be  caused  in  the  manner  that  has 
been  suggested,  so  also  it  is  not  caused 
by  the  separate  Essences  which  are  the 
Powers  that  move  the  stars;  although 
this  was  believed  to  be  the  case  by 
Avicenna  and  his  school,  for  the  follow¬ 
ing  reasons.  For  they  argued  that  those 
are  separate  Essences  of  a  higher  power 
than  our  souls ;  and  the  soul  itself  can 
sometimes,  by  the  force  of  imagination, 


Part  I.  Question  5. 


MALEFICARUM 


37 


or  merely  through  fear,  effect  a  change 
in  its  own  body,  and  even  sometimes 
in  another  body.  For  example,  a  man 
walking  on  a  plank  placed  at  a  great 
height  easily  falls,  but  in  his  fear  he 
imagines  that  he  will  fall ;  but  if  the 
plank  were  placed  on  the  ground  he 
would  not  fall,  for  he  would  have  no 
reason  to  fear  falling.  So  by  the  mere 
apprehension  of  the  soul  the  body  grows 
*  hot  in  the  case  of  the  concupiscent  and 
wrathful,  and  cold  in  the  case  of  the 
fearful.  It  can  also,  by  strongly  imagin¬ 
ing  and  fearing  such  things,  be  affected 
with  illnesses,  such  as  fever  and  leprosy. 
And  as  with  its  own  body,  so  it  can 
influence  another  body  either  for  health 
or  sickness ;  and  to  this  is  ascribed  the 
cause  of  bewitchment,  of  which  we 
have  spoken  above. 

And  since  according  to  that  view  the 
deeds  of  witches  have  to  be  attributed  to 
the  Powers  that  move  the  stars,  if  not 
precisely  to  the  stars  themselves ;  there¬ 
fore  we  must  add  to  what  we  have 
already  said  on  this  subject,  that  this 
also  is  impossible.  For  the  Powers  that 
move  the  stars  are  good  and  intelligent 
Essences,  riot  only  by  nature  but  also 
by  will,  as  appears  from  their  working 
for  the  good  of  the  whole  universe. 
But  that  creature  by  whose  aid  witch¬ 
craft  is  done,  although  it  may  be 
good  by  nature,  cannot  be  good  by 
will.  Therefore  it  is  impossible  to  hold 
the  same  judgement  of  both  these 
Essences. 

And  that  such  an  Essence  cannot  be 
good  in  respect  of  will  is  proved  as 
follows.  For  it  is  no  part  of  a  well- 
disposed  intelligence  to  extend  patron¬ 
age  to  those  who  act  against  virtue; 
and  of  such  sort  are  the  actions  of 
witches.  For  it  will  be  shown  in  the 
Second  Part  that  they  commit  murders, 
fornications,  and  sacrifices  of  children 
and  animals,  and  for  their  evil  deeds 
are  called  witches.  Therefore  the 
Intelligence  by  whose  aid  such  witch¬ 
craft  is  performed  cannot  be  well- 
disposed  towards  virtue;  although  it 
may  be  good  in  its  original  nature, 
since  all  things  are  so,  as  is  evident  to 
anyone  who  thinks  about  it.  Also  it  is 
no  part  of  a  good  Intelligence  to  be 
the  familiar  spirit  of  criminals,  and  to 
extend  patronage  to  them  and  not  to 
the  virtuous.  For  they  are  criminals 
who  use  witchcraft,  and  they  are  known 
by  their  works. 

Now  the  natural  function  of  the 


Essences  that  move  the  stars  is  to  influ¬ 
ence  any  creature  for  good,  although 
it  often  happens  that  it  becomes 
corrupted  by  some  accident.  There¬ 
fore  those  Essences  cannot  be  the 
original  cause  of  witches. 

Besides,  it  is  the  part  of  a  ^ood  spirit 
to  lead  men  to  that  which  is  good  in 
human  nature,  and  of  good  repute; 
therefore  to  entice  men  away  from 
such,  and  to  betray  them  into  evil 
things,  belongs  to  an  evilly-disposed 
spirit.  And  by  the  wiles  of  such  a  spirit 
men  make  no  headway  in  those  things 
which  are  worthy,  such  as  the  sciences 
and  virtues,  but  rather  in  that  which 
is  evil,  such  as  the  knowledge  of  theft 
and  a  thousand  other  crimes ;  therefore 
the  origin  is  not  in  these  separate 
Essences,  but  in  some  Power  evilly 
disposed  toward  virtue. 

Besides,  that  cannot  be  understood 
to  be  a  well-disposed  spirit  which  is 
invoked  as  a  helper  in  the  commission 
of  crimes.  But  this  is  what  happens 
in  the  deeds  of  witches;  for,  as  will  be 
shown  by  their  performances,  they 
abjure  the  Faith,  and  slay  innocent 
children.  For  the  separate  Essences 
which  move  the  stars  do  not,  on  account 
of  their  goodness,  provide  help  in  these 
works  of  witchcraft. 

In  conclusion,  then;  this  kind  of 
works  can  no  more  arise  from  the 
Movers  of  the  stars  than  from  the  stars 
themselves.  And  since  they  must  origi¬ 
nate  from  some  Power  allied  to  some 
creature,  and  that  Power  cannot  be 
good  in  its  will,  although  it  may  be 
naturally  good,  and  that  the  devils 
themselves  answer  to  this  description, 
it  follows  that  it  is  by  their  power  that 
such  things  are  done. 

Unless,  indeed,  anyone  should  bring 
forward  the  trifling  objection  that 
witchcraft  originates  in  human  malice, 
and  that  it  is  effected  by  curses,  and  the 
placings  of  images  in  a  certain  place, 
the  stars  being  favourable.  For  example, 
a  certain  witch  placed  her  image  and 
said  to  a  woman,  “I  will  make  you 
blind  and  lame” ;  and  it  happened  so. 
But  it  happened  because  the  woman 
from  her  nativity  was  destined  by  the 
stars  for  such  an  affliction ;  and  if  such 
words  and  practices  had  been  used 
against  anyone  else,  they  would  not  have 
been  effective.  And  to  this  I  shall 
answer  in  detail ;  first,  that  such  witch¬ 
crafts  cannot  be  caused  by  human 
malice;  secondly,  that  they  cannot  be 


38 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  5. 


caused  by  magic  words  or  images, 
whatever  stars  may  be  in  concurrence. 

Witchcraft  does  not  operate  from  Human 
Malice  alone. 

And  first  to  prove  that  witches’  works 
cannot  arise  from  human  malice,  how¬ 
ever  great.  For  a  man’s  malice  may 
be  either  habitual,  inasmuch  as  by 
frequent  practice  he  acquires  a  habit 
that  inclines  him  to  commit  sin,  not 
from  ignorance  but  from  weakness ; 
in  which  case  he  is  held  to  sin  from 
wickedness.  Or  it  may  be  actual  malice, 
by  which  is  meant  the  deliberate  choice 
of  evil,  which  is  called  the  sin  against 
the  Holy  Ghost.  But  in  neither  case  can 
he,  without  the  help  of  some  higher 
Power,  work  such  spells  as  the  mutation 
of  the  elements,  or  the  harming  of  the 
bodies  both  of  men  and  beasts.  And 
this  is  proved  first  as  to  the  cause,  and 
secondly  as  to  the  effect  of  witchcraft. 

For  a  man  cannot  effect  such  works 
without  malice,  that  is,  a  weakening  of 
his  nature,  and  still  less  when  his 
nature  has  already  been  weakened ;  as  is 
clear,  since  his  active  virtue  is  already 
diminished.  But  man,  through  all  sorts 
of  sin  and  wickedness,  becomes  weak¬ 
ened  in  his  natural  goodness.  Both 
reason  and  authority  prove  this.  For 
Dionysius  ( de  Diuin.  ffom.  I  V)  says : 
Sin  is  the  effect  of  natural  habit;  and 
he  speaks  of  the  sin  of  guilt.  Wherefore 
no  one  who  is  conscious  of  sin  commits 
it,  unless  he  does  so  out  of  deliberate 
revolt. 

I  answer  thus.  The  sin  of  guilt  stands 
in  the  same  relation  to  the  good  of 
nature  as  does  the  good  of  grace  to 
the  sin  of  nature.  But  by  grace  is 
diminished  natural  sin,  which  is  as  a 
tinder  prone  to  guilt;  therefore  much 
more  is  natural  good  diminished  by 
guilt.  And  it  is  not  valid  to  put  forward 
the  objection  that  a  bewitchment  is 
sometimes  caused  by  an  old  woman 
evilly  looking  at  a  child,  by  which  the 
child  is  changed  and  bewitched.  For, 
as  has  already  been  shown,  this  can 
only  happen  to  children  because  of 
their  tender  complexion.  But  here  we 
speak  of  the  bodies  of  all  sorts  of  men 
and  beasts,  and  even  the  elements  and 
hailstorms.  If  anyone  wishes  to  inquire 
further,  he  may  refer  to  S.  Thomas  in 
his  questions  concerning  Evil :  Whether 
sin  can  corrupt  the  whole  natural 
good,  etc. 


And  now  as  regards  the  effects  of 
witchcraft.  From  the  effects  we  arrive 
at  a  knowledge  of  the  cause.  Now  these 
effects,  as  they  concern  us,  are  outside 
the  order  of  created  nature  as  known 
to  us,  and  are  done  through  the  power 
of  some  creature  unknown  to  us, 
although  they  are  not  miracles,  which 
are  things  done  outside  the  order  of 
the  whole  of  created  nature.  As  for 
miracles,  they  are  wrought  by  His 
power  Who  is  above  the  whole  order 
of  the  entire  natural  creation,  Which 
is  the  Blessed  God ;  as  it  is  said :  Thou 
art  He  Who  alone  workest  great  marvels. 
So  also  the  works  of  witches  are  said 
to  be  miraculous  only  inasmuch  as  they 
are  done  by  some  cause  unknown  to  us, 
and  outside  the  order  of  created  nature 
as  known  to  us.  From  which  it  follows 
that  the  corporeal  virtue  of  a  man  can¬ 
not  extend  itself  to  the  causation  of 
such  works ;  for  it  has  always  this 
quality,  that  the  cause  with  the  natural 
effect  is,  in  the  case  of  man,  recognized 
naturally  and  without  wonder. 

And  that  the  works  of  witches  can  in  1 
some  way  be  called  miraculous,  in  so 
far  as  they  exceed  human  knowledge, 
is  clear  from  their  very  nature ;  for  they 
are  not  done  naturally.  It  is  shown 
also  by  all  the  Doctors,  especially  S. 
Augustine  in  Book  LXXXIII,  where  he 
says  that  by  magic  arts  many  miracles  | 
are  wrought  similar  to  those  miracles 
which  are  done  by  the  servants  of  God. 
And  again  in  the  same  book  he  says 
that  Magicians  do  miracles  by  private 
contract,  good  Christians  by  public 
justice,  and  bad  Christians  by  the  signs 
of  public  justice.  And  all  this  is  ex¬ 
plained  as  follows.  For  there  is  a 
Divine  justice  in  the  whole  universe, 
just  as  there  is  a  public  law  in  the 
State.  But  the  virtue  of  any  creature 
has  to  do  with  the  universe,  as  that  of 
the  private  individual  has  to  do  with 
the  State.  Therefore  inasmuch  as  good 
Christians  work  miracles  by  Divine 
justice,  they  are  said  to  work  them  by 
public  justice.  But  the  Magician,  since  t 
he  works  through  a  pact  entered  into 
with  the  devil,  is  said  to  work  by  private 
contract ;  for  he  works  by  means  of  the 
devil,  who  by  his  natural  power  can  do 
things  outside  the  order  of  created 
nature  as  known  to  us,  through  the 
virtue  of  a  creature  unknown  to  us ; 
and  it  will  be  for  us  a  miracle,  although 
not  actually  so,  since  he  cannot  work 
outside  the  order  of  the  whole  of 


Part  I.  Question  5. 


MALEFICARUM 


39 


created  nature,  and  through  all  the 
virtues  of  creatures  unknown  to  us. 
For  in  this  way  only  God  is  said  to 
work  miracles.  As  it  is  said :  Thou  art 
God  Who  alone  workest  great  marvels. 
But  had  Christians  work  through  the 
signs  of  public  justice,  as  by  invoking 
the  Name  of  Christ,  or  by  exhibiting 
certain  sacraments.  If  anyone  pleases, 
he  can  refer  to  S.  Thomas  in  the  first 
part  of  the  questions,  III,  art.  4.  He 
can  also  study  the  conclusions  in  the 
Second  Part  of  this  work,  Chapter  VI. 

That  Witchcraft  is  not  exercised  and  wrought 
by  Voices  and  Words  under  a  favouring 
Influence  of  the  Stars. 

Neither  does  witchcraft  proceed  from 
words  uttered  over  images  by  men 
under  favourable  constellations.  For 
the  intellect  of  a  man  is  of  such  a  nature 
that  its  knowledge  springs  from  things, 
and  phantasms  must  be  rationally 
examined.  It  is  not  in  his  nature, 
simply  by  thought  or  by  the  intrinsic 
operation  of  his  intellect,  to  cause  things 
to  happen  just  by  expressing  them  in 
words.  For  if  there  were  men  who  had 
such  power,  they  would  not  be  of  the 
same  nature  as  we,  and  could  only 
equivocally  be  called  men. 

But  it  is  said  that  they  effect  these 
things  by  words  when  the  stars  of  the 
nativity  are  favourable;  from  which 
it  would  follow  that  they  would  be 
able  to  act  by  the  power  of  words  only 
under  certain  conditions,  and  that 
they  would  be  powerless  without  the 
help  of  the  stars  of  their  victim’s 
nativity.  But  this  is  clearly  false  from 
what  has  been  said  before  concerning 
Astromancers,  casters  of  Horoscopes 
and  Fortune-tellers. 

Besides,  words  express  the  conception 
of  the  mind ;  and  the  stars  cannot 
influence  the  understanding,  neither 
can  the  Powers  that  move  them,  unless 
they  wish  on  their  own  account,  and 
apart  from  the  motion  of  the  stars,  to 
enlighten  the  understanding;  and  this 
would  only  happen  in  regard  to  good 
works,  for  not  enlightenment  but  dark¬ 
ness  is  given  to  the  understanding  for 
the  performance  of  evil  works;  and 
such  is  the  function  not  of  good,,  but 
of  evil  spirits.  Therefore  it  is  clear 
that  if  their  words  are  in  any  way 
effective,  it  is  not  by  virtue  of  any  star, 
but  by  virtue  of  some  Intelligence, 
which  may  be  naturally  good,  but 


cannot  be  good  in  respect  of  will,  since 
it  always  works  for  evil ;  and  such  is  the 
devil,  as  has  been  shown  above. 

And  they  cannot  effect  such  things 
by  images  influenced,  as  it  were,  by  the 
stars.  For  such  images,  marked  with 
whatever  characters  and  figures,  are 
the  result  of  a  man  working  by  art.  But 
the  stars  cause  natural  effects;  a  term 
which  cannot  be  applied  to  the  effects 
caused  by  evil  witches,  to  the  harm  of 
creatures,  proceeding  apart  from  the 
accustomed  order  of  nature.  Wherefore 
this  argument  is  not  relevant. 

Again,  it  has  been  shown  above  that 
there  are  two  kinds  of  images.  Those 
of  the  Astrologers  and  Mages  are 
ordained  not  for  corruption,  but  for 
the  obtaining  of  some  private  good. 
But  the  images  of  witches  are  quite  j 
different,  since  always  they  are  secretly  \ 
placed  somewhere  by  the  command  of 
the  devil  for  the  hurt  of  a  creature; 
and  they  who  walk  or  sleep  over  them 
are  harmed,  as  the  witches  themselves 
confess.  Wherefore  whatever  they  effect 
is  done  by  means  of  devils,  and  is  not 
due  to  the  influence  of  the  stars. 

To  the  arguments.  For  the  first,  we 
must  understand  the  words  of  S. 
Augustine,  that  the  cause  of  man’s 
depravity  lies  in  man’s  will,  meaning 
the  cause  which  produces  the  effect ; 
which  is  properly  said  to  be  the  cause. 
It  is  not  so,  however,  with  the  cause 
which  permits  the  effect,  or  arranges 
or  advises  or  suggests  it,  in  which  sense 
the  devil  is  said  to  be  the  cause  of  sin 
and  depravity;  God  only  permitting 
it  that  good  may  come  of  evil.  As 
S.  Augustine  says:  The  devil  provides 
the  inner  suggestion,  and  persuades 
both  inwardly  and  outwardly  by  more 
active  stimulation.  But  he  instructs  | 
those  who  are  entirely  in  his  power,  as 
are  witches,  whom  there  is  no  need  to  I 
tempt  from  within,  but  only  from  j 
without,  etc. 

And  through  this  we  come  to  the 
second  argument,  that  everyone  is,  by 
direct  understanding,  the  cause  of  his 
own  wickedness.  And  concerning  this 
it  is  to  be  said  that,  though  it  would  be 
contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  free-will  to 
believe  that  a  man  may  be  influenced 
by  direct  command,  it  is  not  so  to  say 
that  he  is  influenced  by  suggestion. 

Thirdly,  impulses  to  good  or  evil 
can  be  caused  to  be  suggested  by  the 
influence  of  the  stars,  and  the  impulse 
is  received  as  a  natural  inclination  to 


40 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  5. 


human  virtue  or  vice.  But  the  works 
of  witches  are  outside  the  common  order 
of  nature,  and  therefore  they  cannot 
be  subject  to  those  influences. 

The  fourth  argument  is  equally  clear. 
For  though  the  stars  are  a  cause  of 
human  acts,  witchcraft  is  not  properly 
a  human  act. 

For  the  fifth  argument,  that  the 
Powers  that  move  the  stars  can  influence 
souls.  If  that  is  understood  directly, 
they  do  so  influence  them  by  enlighten¬ 
ing  them  towards  goodness,  but  not  to 
witchcraft,  as  has  been  shown  above. 
But  if  it  is  understood  mediately,  then 
through  the  medium  of  the  stars  they 
exert  an  indirect  and  suggestive 
influence. 

Sixthly,  there  are  two  reasons  why 
devils  molest  men  at  certain  phases  of 
the  Moon.  First,  that  they  may  bring 
disrepute  on  a  creature  of  God,  namely, 
the  Moon,  as  S.  Jerome  and  S.  John 
Chrysostom  say.  Secondly,  because  they 
cannot,  as  has  been  said  above,  operate 
except  through  the  medium  of  the 
natural  powers.  Therefore  they  study 
the  aptitudes  of  bodies  for  receiving  an 
impression;  and  because,  as  Aristotle 
says,  the  brain  is  the  most  humid  of 
all  the  parts  of  the  body,  therefore  it 
chiefly  is  subject  to  the  operation  of  the 
Moon,  which  itself  has  power  to  incite 
humours.  Moreover,  the  animal  forces 
are  perfected  in  the  brain,  and  therefore 
the  devils  disturb  a  man’s  fancy  accord¬ 
ing  to  certain  phases  of  the  Moon, 
when  the  brain  is  ripe  for  such 
influences. 

And  there  are  two  reasons  why  the 
devils  are  present  as  counsellors  in 
certain  constellations.  First,  that  they 
may  lead  men  into  the  error  of  thinking 
that  there  is  some  divinity  in  the 
stars.  Secondly,  because  they  think 
that  under  the  influence  of  some  con¬ 
stellations  corporeal  matter  is  more  apt 
for  the  deeds  that  they  counsel. 

And  as  to  what  S.  Augustine  says  in  de 

ICiuitate  Dei ,  XXXVI :  Devils  are  at¬ 
tracted  by  various  kinds  of  stones,  herbs, 
trees,  animals,  songs,  and  instruments  of 
music,  not  as  animals  are  attracted  by 
food,  but  as  spirits  by  signs,  as  if  these 
things  were  exhibited  to  them  as  a  sign 
of  Divine  honour,  for  which  they  are 
i  themselves  eager. 

But  it  is  often  objected  that  devils 
can  be  hindered  by  herbs  and  music 
from  molesting  men ;  as  it  is  alleged  in 
the  argument  from  Saul  and  the  music 


of  the  harp.  And  hence  an  attempt  is 
made  to  argue  that  some  men  can 
work  witchcraft  through  certain  herbs 
and  occult  causes,  without  the  help  of 
devils,  but  only  of  the  influence  of  the 
stars,  which  have  more  direct  power 
over  matters  corporeal  for  corporeal 
effects  than  over  the  devils  for  effects 
of  witchcraft. 

Now,  though  this  must  be  answered 
more  widely,  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
herbs  and  music  cannot  by  their  own 
natural  virtue  entirely  shut  out  the. 
molestation  which  the  devil  can  inflicti 
upon  men,  with  the  permission  of  God 
and  the  good  Angels.  Yet  they  can 
mitigate  that  molestation ;  and  this 
can  even  be  of  so  slight  a  nature  that 
they  can  entirely  remove  it.  But  they 
would  do  this,  not  by  acting  against 
the  devil  himself,  since  he  is  a  separate 
spirit  against  whom  nothing  corporeal 
can  naturally  act,  but  by  acting  against 
the  actual  molestation  of  the  devil. 
For  every  cause  that  has  limited  power 
can  produce  a  more  intense  effect  on 
a  suitable  than  upon  an  unsuitable 
material.  See  Aristotle  De  Anima.  They 
who  act  do  so  upon  a  predisposed 
patient.  Now  the  devil  is  an  agent  of 
limited  power;  therefore  he  can  inflict 
a  fiercer  affliction  on  a  man  disposed 
to  that  affliction  or  to  that  which  the 
devil  means  to  inflict,  than  upon  a  man 
of  a  contrary  disposition.  For  example, 
the  devil  can  induce  a  fiercer  passion 
of  melancholy  in  a  man  disposed  to 
that  humour  than  in  a  man  of  the 
contrary  disposition. 

Moreover,  it  >  is  certain  that  herbs 
and  music  can  change  the  disposition 
of  the  body,  and  consequently  of  the 
emotions.  This  is  evident  in  the  case 
of  herbs,  since  some  incline  a  man 
to  joy,  some  to  sadness,  and  so  with 
others.  It  is  evident  also  in  the  case  of 
music,  as  Aristotle  shows  ( Politics ,  VIII), 
where  he  says  that  different  harmonies 
can  produce  different  passions  in  man. 
Boethius  also  mentions  this  in  his 
Music ,  and  the  author  of  the  Birth  of 
Knowledge ,  where  he  speaks  of  the 
usefulness  of  music,  and  says  that  it  is 
of  value  in  the  cure  or  alleviation  of 
various  infirmities.  And  thus,  other 
things  being  equal,  it  may  help  to 
weaken  the  affliction. 

But  I  do  not  see  how  herbs  or  music 
can  cause  a  man  to  be  of  such  a  dis¬ 
position  that  he  can  in  no  way  be 
molested  by  the  devil.  Even  if  such 


Part  I.  Question  6. 


MALEFICARUM 


4i 


a  thing  were  permissible,  the  devil, 
\  moving  only  in  local  vapour  of  the 
spirit,  can  grievously  afflict  men  super- 
naturally.  But  herbs  and  harmonies 
cannot  of  their  own  natural  virtue 
cause  in  man  a  disposition  by  which 
the  devil  is  prevented  from  creating 
the  aforesaid  commotion.  Neverthe¬ 
less  it  sometimes  happens  that  the 
devil  is  permitted  to  inflict  only  so 
small  a  vexation  on  a  man  that,  through 
some  strong  contrary  disposition,  it 
may  be  totally  removed ;  and  then 
some  herbs  or  harmonies  can  so  dispose 
a  man’s  body  to  the  contrary  that  the 
vexation  is  totally  removed.  For  ex¬ 
ample,  the  devil  may  at  times  vex  a 
man  with  the  affliction  of  sadness ;  but 
so  weakly  that  herbs  or  harmonies 
which  are  capable  of  causing  a  swelling 
and  uplifting  of  the  spirits,  which  are 
contrary  emotions  to  sadness,  can 
totally  remove  that  sadness. 

Moreover,  S.  Augustine,  in  his  Second 
Book  On  the  Christian  Doctrine ,  con¬ 
demns  amulets  and  certain  other  things 
of  which  he  there  writes  much,  attribut¬ 
ing  their  virtue  to  magic  art,  since  they 
can  have  no  natural  virtue  of  their 
own.  And  this  is  clear  from  what  he 
says.  To  this  sort  belong  all  amulets 
and  charms  which  are  condemned  by 
the  School  of  Physicians,  which  con¬ 
demns  very  clearly  their  use,  in  that 
they  have  no  efficacy  of  their  own 
natural  virtue. 

And  as  for  that  concerning  1  Kings 
xvi :  that  Saul,  who  was  vexed  by  a 
devil,  was  alleviated  when  David  played 
his  harp  before  him,  and  that  the  devil 
departed,  etc.  It  must  be  known  that 
it  is  quite  true  that  by  the  playing  of 
the  harp,  and  the  natural  virtue  of 
that  harmony,  the  affliction  of  Saul  was 
to  some  extent  relieved,  inasmuch  as 
that  music  did  somewhat  calm  his 
senses  through  hearing ;  through  which 
calming  he  was  made  less  prone  to 
that  vexation.  But  the  reason  why  the 
evil  spirit  departed  when  David  played 
the  harp  was  because  of  the  might  of 
the  Cross,  which  is  clearly  enough 
shown  by  the  gloss,  where  it  says : 
David  was  learned  in  music,  skilful 
in  the  different  notes  and  harmonic 
modulations.  He  shows  the  essential 
unity  by  playing  each  day  in  various 
modes.  David  repressed  the  evil  spirit 
by  the  harp,  not  because  there  was  so 
much  virtue  in  the  harp,  but  it  was 
made  in  the  sign  of  a  cross,  being  a 


I 

cross  of  wood  with  the  strings  stretched 
across.  And  even  at  that  time  the  devils  ,  * 
fled  from  this. 

☆ 

QUESTION  VI 

Concerning  Witches  who  copulate  with 
Devils. 

Why  it  is  that  Women  are  chiefly  addicted 
to  Evil  Superstitions. 

THERE  is  also,  concerning  witches 
who  copulate  with  devils,  much 
difficulty  in  considering  the  methods  by 
which  such  abominations  are  consum¬ 
mated.  On  the  part  of  the  devil :  first, 
of  what  element  the  body  is  made  that 
he  assumes ;  secondly,  whether  the  act 
is  always  accompanied  by  the  injection 
of  semen  received  from  another ;  third¬ 
ly,  as  to  time  and  place,  whether  he 
commits  this  act  more  frequently  at  one 
time  than  at  another ;  fourthly,  whether 
the  act  is  invisible  to  any  who  may  be 
standing  by.  And  on  the  part  of  the 
women,  it  has  to  be  inquired  whether 
only  they  who  were  themselves  con¬ 
ceived  in  this  filthy  manner  are  often 
visited  by  devils ;  or  secondly,  whether 
it  is  those  who  were  offered  to  devils  by 
midwives  at  the  time  of  their  birth; 
and  thirdly,  whether  the  actual  venereal 
delectation  of  such  is  of  a  weaker  sort. 

But  we  cannot  here  reply  to  all  these 
questions,  both  because  we  are  only  en¬ 
gaged  in  a  general  study,  and  because 
in  the  second  part  of  this  work  they  are 
all  singly  explained  by  their  operations, 
as  will  appear  in  the  fourth  chapter, 
where  mention  is  made  of  each  separate 
method.  Therefore  let  us  now  chiefly 
consider  women;  and  first,  why  this 
kind  of  perfidy  is  found  more  in  so 
fragile  a  sex  than  in  men.  And  our  in¬ 
quiry  will  first  be  general,  as  to  the 
general  conditions  of  women ;  secondly, 
particular,  as  to  which  sort  of  women 
are  found  to  be  given  to  superstition  and 
witchcraft ;  and  thirdly,  specifically 
with  regard  to  midwives,  who  surpass 
all  others  in  wickedness. 


Why  Superstition  is  chiefly  found  in 
Women. 


As  for  the  first  question,  why  a 
greater  number  of  witches  is  found  in 
the  fragile  feminine  sex  than  among 
men ;  it  is  indeed  a  fact  that  it  were  idle 
to  contradict,  since  it  is  accredited  by  * 


E 


42 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  6. 


actual  experience,  apart  from  the  verbal 
testimony  of  credible  witnesses.  And 
without  in  any  way  detracting  from  a 
sex  in  which  God  has  always  taken 
great  glory  that  His  might  should  be 
spread  abroad,  let  us  say  that  various 
men  have  assigned  various  reasons  for 
this  fact,  which  nevertheless  agree  in 
principle.  Wherefore  it  is  good,  for  the 
admonition  of  women,  to  speak  of  this 
matter ;  and  it  has  often  been  proved  by 
experience  that  they  are  eager  to  hear 
of  it,  so  long  as  it  is  set  forth  with  dis¬ 
cretion. 

For  some  learned  men  propound  this 
reason;  that  there  are  three  things  in 
nature,  the  Tongue,  an  Ecclesiastic, 
and  a  Woman,  which  know  no  modera¬ 
tion  in  goodness  or  vice ;  and  when  they 
exceed  the  bounds  of  their  condition 
they  reach  the  greatest  heights  and  the 
lowest  depths  of  goodness  and  vice. 
When  they  are  governed  by  a  good 
spirit,  they  are  most  excellent  in  virtue ; 
but  when  they  are  governed  by  an  evil 
spirit,  they  indulge  the  worst  possible 
vices. 

This  is  clear  in  the  case  of  the  tongue, 
since  by  its  ministry  most  of  the  king¬ 
doms  have  been  brought  into  the  faith 
of  Christ;  and  the  Holy  Ghost  ap¬ 
peared  over  the  Apostles  of  Christ  in 
tongues  of  fire.  Other  learned  preachers 
also  have  had  as  it  were  the  tongues  of 
dogs,  licking  the  wounds  and  sores  of 
the  dying  Lazarus.  As  it  is  said :  With 
the  tongues  of  dogs  ye  save  your  souls 
from  the  enemy. 

For  this  reason  S.  Dominic,*  the 
leader  and  father  of  the  Order  of 
Preachers,  is  represented  in  the  figure 
of  a  barking  dog  with  a  lighted  torch  in 
his  mouth,  that  even  to  this  day  he  may 
by  his  barking  keep  off  the  heretic 
wolves  from  the  flock  of  Christ’s  sheep. 

It  is  also  a  matter  of  common  ex¬ 
perience  that  the  tongue  of  one  prudent 
man  can  subdue  the  wrangling  of  a 
multitude ;  wherefore  not  unjustly  Solo¬ 
mon  sings  much  in  their  praise,  in 
Proverbs  x. :  In  the  lips  of  him  that  hath 
understanding  wisdom  is  found.  And 


*  “S.  Dominic .”  Before  the  birth  of  S. 
Dominic,  his  mother,  Blessed  Joanna  d’Aza, 
dreamed  that  she  had  brought  forth  a  black-and- 
white  dog  carrying  in  his  mouth  a  lighted  torch. 
The  dog  with  the  torch  is  accordingly  the  pictorial 
attribute  of  the  Saint.  Nor  must  the  play  upon 
the  name  of  his  sons  be  forgotten — Dominicani, 
Domini  canes ,  Hounds  of  the  Lord. 


again,  The  tongue  of  the  just  is  as 
choice  silver :  the  heart  of  the  wicked  is 
little  worth.  And  again,  The  lips  of 
the  righteous  feed  many ;  but  fools  die 
for  want  of  wisdom.  For  this  cause  he 
adds  in  chapter  xvi,  The  preparations 
of  the  heart  belong  to  man;  but  the 
answer  of  the  tongue  is  from  the  Lord. 

But  concerning  an  evil  tongue  you 
will  find  in  Ecclesiasticus  xxviii :  A 
backbiting  tongue  hath  disquieted 
many,  and  driven  them  from  nation  to 
nation :  strong  cities  hath  it  pulled 
down,  and  overthrown  the  houses  of 
great  men.  And  by  a  backbiting 
tongue  it  means  a  third  party  who 
rashly  or  spitefully  interferes  between 
two  contending  parties. 

Secondly,  concerning  Ecclesiastics, 
that  is  to  say,  clerics  and  religious  of 
either  sex,  S.  John  Chrysostomf  speaks 
on  the  text,  He  cast  out  them  that 
bought  and  sold  from  the  temple. 
From  the  priesthood  arises  everything 
good,  and  everything  evil.  S.  Jerome 
in  his  epistle  to  Nepotian  says:  Avoid 
as  you  would  the  plague  a  trading 
priest,  who  has  risen  from  poverty  to 
riches,  from  a  low  to  a  high  estate.  And 
Blessed  Bernard  in  his  23rd  Homily  On 
the  Psalms  says  of  clerics :  If  one  should 
arise  as  an  open  heretic,  let  him  be  cast 
out  and  put  to  silence ;  if  he  is  a  violent 
enemy,  let  all  good  men  flee  from  him. 
But  how  are  we  to  know  which  ones  to 
cast  out  or  to  flee  from?  For  they  are 
confusedly  friendly  and  hostile,  peace¬ 
able  and  quarrelsome,  neighbourly  and 
utterly  selfish. 

And  in  another  place:  Our  bishops 
are  become  spearmen,  and  our  pastors 
shearers.  And  by  bishops  here  is  meant 
those  proud  Abbots  who  impose  heavy 
labours  on  their  inferiors,  which  they 
would  not  themselves  touch  with  their 
little  finger.  And  S.  Gregory  says  con¬ 
cerning  pastors :  No  one  does  more 
harm  in  the  Church  than  he  who, 
having  the  name  or  order  of  sanctity, 
lives  in  sin ;  for  no  one  dares  to  accuse 
him  of  sin,  and  therefore  the  sin  is 
widely  spread,  since  the  sinner  is 


f  “S.  John  Chrysostom .”  Born  at  Antioch 
347;  died  at  Comana  in  Pontus,  14  September, 
407.  His  fifty-nine  homilies  “On  the  Psalms ” 
(iv-xii,  xli ,  xliii-xlix,  cviii-cxvii,  cxix-cl)  are 
very  famous.  For  a  full  study  of  these  see  Bawds 
“ Der  urspriingliche  Umfang  des  Kommentars 
des  hi.  Joh.  Chrysostomus  zu  den  Psalmen”  in 
XpuaoCTTojjLixa,  fasc.  I,  Rome,  igo8. 


Part  I.  Question  6. 


MALEFICARUM 


43 


honoured  for  the  sanctity  of  his  order. 
Blessed  Augustine  also  speaks  of  monks 
to  Vincent  the  Donatist:  I  freely  con¬ 
fess  to  your  charity  before  the  Lord  our 
God,  which  is  the  witness  of  my  soul 
from  the  time  I  began  to  serve  God, 
what  great  difficulty  I  have  experi¬ 
enced  in  the  fact  that  it  is  impossible  to 
find  either  worse  or  better  men  than 
those  who  grace  or  disgrace  the  monas¬ 
teries. 

Now  the  wickedness  of  women  is 
spoken  of  in  Ecclesiasticus  xxv :  There  is 
no  head  above  the  head  of  a  serpent: 
and  there  is  no  wrath  above  the  wrath 
of  a  woman.  I  had  rather  dwell  with  a 
lion  and  a  dragon  than  to  keep  house 
with  a  wicked  woman.  And  among 
much  which  in  that  place  precedes  and 
follows  about  a  wicked  woman,  he  con¬ 
cludes:  All  wickedness  is  but  little  to 
the  wickedness  of  a  woman.  Wherefore 
S.  John  Chrysostom  says  on  the  text,  It 
is  not  good  to  marry  ( S .  Matthew  xix)  :* 
What  else  is  woman  but  a  foe  to  friend¬ 
ship,  an  unescapable  punishment,  a 
necessary  evil,  a  natural  temptation,  a 
desirable  calamity,  a  domestic  danger, 
a  delectable  detriment,  an  evil  of 
nature,  painted  with  fair  colours ! 
Therefore  if  it  be  a  sin  to  divorce  her 
when  she  ought  to  be  kept,  it  is  indeed 
a  necessary  torture ;  for  either  we  com¬ 
mit  adultery  by  divorcing  her,  or  we 
must  endure  daily  strife.  Cicero  in  his 
second  book  of  The  Rhetorics  says :  The 
many  lusts  of  men  lead  them  into  one 
sin,  but  the  one  lust  of  women  leads 
them  into  all  sins;  for  the  root  of  all 
,  woman’s  vices  is  avarice.  And  Seneca 
[  says  in  his  Tragedies:  A  woman  either 
i  loves  or  hates ;  there  is  no  third  grade. 
And  the  tears  of  a  woman  are  a  decep¬ 
tion,  for  they  may  spring  from  true 
grief,  or  they  may  be  a  snare.  When  a 
woman  thinks  alone,  she  thinks  evil. 

But  for  good  women  there  is  so  much 
praise,  that  we  read  that  they  have 
brought  beatitude  to  men,  and  have 
saved  nations,  lands,  and  cities ;  as  is 
clear  in  the  case  of  Judith,  Debbora, 
and  Esther.  See  also  i  Corinthians  vii : 
If  a  woman  hath  a  husband  that  be- 
lieveth  not,  and  he  be  pleased  to  dwell 
with  her,  let  her  not  leave  him.  For 
the  unbelieving  husband  is  sanctified 
by  the  believing  wife.  And  Ecclesias¬ 
ticus  xxvi :  Blessed  is  the  man  who  has  a 


*  “S.  Matthew The  ninety  Homilies  on  S. 
Matthew  were  written  about  the  year  390. 


virtuous  wife,  for  the  number  of  his 
days  shall  be  doubled.  And  throughout 
that  chapter  much  high  praise  is  spoken 
of  the  excellence  of  good  women;  as 
also  in  the  last  chapter  of  Proverbs  con¬ 
cerning  a  virtuous  woman. 

And  all  this  is  made  clear  also  in  the 
New  Testament  concerning  women  and 
virgins  and  other  holy  women  who  have 
by  faith  led  nations  and  kingdoms  away 
from  the  worship  of  idols  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  religion.  Anyone  who  looks  at  Vin¬ 
cent  of  Beauvais  (in  Spe.  His  tor.,  XXVI. 
9)  will  find  marvellous  things  of  the 
conversion  of  Hungary  by  the  most 
Christian  Gilia,f  and  of  the  Franks  by 
Clotilda, X  the  wife  of  Clovis.  Where¬ 
fore  in  many  vituperations  that  we  read 
against  women,  the  word  woman  is 
used  to  mean  the  lust  of  the  flesh.  As  it 
is  said :  I  have  found  a  woman  more 
bitter  than  death,  and  a  good  woman 
subject  to  carnal  lust. 

Others  again  have  propounded  other 
reasons  why  there  are  more  super¬ 
stitious  women  found  than  men.  And 
the  first  is,  that  they  are  more  credu¬ 
lous  ;  and  since  the  chief  aim  of  the 
devil  is  to  corrupt  faith,  therefore  he 
rather  attacks  them.  See  Ecclesiasticus 
xix:  He  that  is  quick  to  believe  is 
light-minded,  and  shall  be  diminished. 


f  “ Gilia .”  Rather  Gisela,  the  devout  sister 
of  Duke  Henry  of  Bavaria  (the  future  Emperor 
S.  Henry  II);  in  993  married  S.  Stephen  of 
Hungary,  who  succeeded  to  the  throne  in  997. 
She  was  untiring  in  her  efforts  to  spread  the 
Faith  throughout  the  kingdom.  The  coronation 
mantle  of  Hungary,  a  purple  damask  cope, 
embroidered  in  silk  and  gold  by  Queen  Gisela, 
dated  1031,  is  preserved  at  Budapest. 

+  “ Clotilda Born  probably  at  Lyons  about 
474;  died  at  Tours,  3  June,  343.  The  feast  of 
S.  Clotilda  is  celebrated  3  June.  From  the  sixth 
century  onwards,  the  marriage  of  Clovis  I,  King 
of  the  Salic  Franks,  and  Clotilda,  which  took 
place  in  492  or  493,  was  made  the  theme  of  epic 
narratives  and  many  legends.  Clotilda  soon 
acquired  a  great  ascendancy  over  her  husband,  and 
she  availed  herself  of  this  influence  to  win  him  to 
the  Catholic  Faith.  For  a  time  her  efforts  seemed 
unavailing,  but  Clovis,  who  in  a  great  battle 
against  the  Alemanni  saw  his  men  on  the  point 
of  defeat,  invoked  the  God  of  his  wife,  promising 
to  become  a  Christian  if  only  victory  should  be 
granted  to  the  Franks.  The  tide  instantly  turned , 
and,  true  to  his  word,  he  was  baptized  at  Reims 
by  S.  Remigius  at  Christmas,  496.  His  sister  and 
three  thousand  of  his ■  noblest  warriors  at  the 
same  time  embraced  the  Faith.  Thus  S. 
Clotilda  was  the  instrument  in  the  conversion  of  a 
mighty  people. 


44 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  6. 


The  second  reason  is,  that  women  are 
naturally  more  impressionable,  and 
more  ready  to  receive  the  influence  of 
a  disembodied  spirit;  and  that  when 
they  use  this  quality  well  they  are  very 
good,  but  when  they  use  it  ill  they  are 
very  evil. 

The  third  reason  is  that  they  have 
slippery  tongues,  and  are  unable  to  con¬ 
ceal  from  their  fellow-women  those 
things  which  by  evil  arts  they  know; 
and,  since  they  are  weak,  they  find  an 
easy  and  secret  manner  of  vindicating 
themselves  by  witchcraft.  See  Eccle¬ 
siasticus  as  quoted  above :  I  had  rather 
dwell  with  a  lion  and  a  dragon  than  to 
keep  house  with  a  wicked  woman.  All 
wickedness  is  but  little  to  the  wicked¬ 
ness  of  a  woman.  And  to  this  may  be 
added  that,  as  they  are  very  impres¬ 
sionable,  they  act  accordingly. 

There  are  also  others  who  bring  for¬ 
ward  yet  other  reasons,  of  which 
preachers  should  be  very  careful  how 
they  make  use.  For  it  is  true  that  in  the 
Old  Testament  the  Scriptures  have 
much  that  is  evil  to  say  about  women, 
and  this  because  of  the  first  temptress, 
Eve,  and  her  imitators;  yet  afterwards  in 
the  New  Testament  we  find  a  change  of 
name,  as  from  Eva  to  Ave  (as  S.  Jerome 
says),  and  the  whole  sin  of  Eve  taken 
away  by  the  benediction  of  Mary. 
Therefore  preachers  should  always  say 
as  much  praise  of  them  as  possible. 

But  because  in  these  times  this  per¬ 
fidy  is  more  often  found  in  women  than 
in  men,  as  we  learn  by  actual  experi¬ 
ence,  if  anyone  is  curious  as  to  the 
reason,  we  may  add  to  what  has  already 
been  said  the  following :  that  since 
they  are  feebler  both  in  mind  and 
body,  it  is  not  surprising  that  they 
should  come  more  under  the  spell  of 
witchcraft. 

For  as  regards  intellect,  or  the  under¬ 
standing  of  spiritual  things,  they  seem 
to  be  of  a  different  nature  from  men ;  a 
fact  which  is  vouched  for  by  the  logic  of 
the  authorities,  backed  by  various  ex¬ 
amples  from  the  Scriptures.  Terence* 
says:  Women  are  intellectually  like 
children.  And  Lactantius  ( Institu - 


*  “Terence”  “ Hecyra ”  III,  i,  30-32: 

Pueri  inter  sese  quam  pro  leuibus  noxiis  iras 
gerunt! 

Qua  propter?  quia  enim,  qui  eos  gubernat  ani¬ 
mus,  infirmum  gerunt. 

Itidem  illa  mulieres  sunt  ferme,  ut  pueri,  leui 
sententia. 


tiones ,  III) :  No  woman  understood 
philosophy  except  Temeste.J  And 
Proverbs  xi,  as  it  were  describing  a 
woman,  says :  As  a  jewel  of  gold  in  a 
swine’s  snout,  so  is  a  fair  woman  which 
is  without  discretion. 

But  the  natural  reason  is  that  she  is 
more  carnal  than  a  man,  as  is  clear 
from  her  many  carnal  abominations. 
And  it  should  be  noted  that  there  was  a 
defect  in  the  formation  of  the  first 
woman,  since  she  was  formed  from  a 
bent  rib,  that  is,  a  rib  of  the  breast, 
which  is  bent  as  it  were  in  a  contrary 
direction  to  a  man.  And  since  through 
this  defect  she  is  an  imperfect  animal, 
she  always  deceives.  For  Cato  says : 
When  a  woman  weeps  she  weaves 
snares.  And  again:  When  a  woman 
weeps,  she  labours  to  deceive  a  man. 
And  this  is  shown  by  Samson’s  wife, 
who  coaxed  him  to  tell  her  the  riddle 
he  had  propounded  to  the  Philistines, 
and  told  them  the  answer,  and  so  de¬ 
ceived  him.  And  it  is  clear  in  the  case 
of  the  first  woman  that  she  had  little 
faith;  for  when  the  serpent  asked  why 
they  did  not  eat  of  every  tree  in  Para¬ 
dise,  she  answered :  Of  every  tree,  etc. 
— lest  perchance  we  die.  Thereby  she 
showed  that  she  doubted,  and  had  little 
faith  in  the  word  of  God.  And  all  this 
is  indicated  by  the  etymology  of  the 
word;  for  Femina  comes  from  Fe  and 
Minus,  since  she  is  ever  weaker  to  hold 
and  preserve  the  faith.  And  this  as  re¬ 
gards  faith  is  of  her  very  nature ;  al¬ 
though  both  by  grace  and  nature  faith 
never  failed  in  the  Blessed  Virgin,  even 
at  the  time  of  Christ’s  Passion,  when  it 
failed  in  all  men. 

Therefore  a  wicked  woman  is  by  her 
nature  quicker  to  waver  in  her  faith, 
and  consequently  quicker  to  abjure  the 
faith,  which  is  the  root  of  witchcraft. 

And  as  to  her  other  mental  quality, 
that  is,  her  natural  will ;  when  she  hates 
someone  whom  she  formerly  loved, 
then  she  seethes  with  anger  and  im¬ 
patience  in  her  whole  soul,  just  as  the 
tides  of  the  sea  are  always  heaving  and 
boiling.  Many  authorities  allude  to  this 

f  “Temeste.”  “Denique  nullas  unquam 
mulieres  philosophari  docuerunt  praeter  unam  ex 
omni  memoria  Themisten.”  Ill,  xxv.  But  on 
this  Xistus  Betulaeus  (ed.  1536)  glosses:  “Putat 
fortasse  Leontii  coniugem ,  ad  quam  Epicurus 
scripsisse  legitur.  Quid  dicemus  de  Thermis- 
toclea,  Pythagorae  sorore?  quid  de  aliis  pluribus 
quarum  bene  longum  catalogum  Textor 
recenset ?” 


Part  I.  Question  6. 


MALEFICARUM 


45 


cause.  Ecclesiasticus  xxv  :  There  is  no 
wrath  above  the  wrath  of  a  woman. 
And  Seneca  ( Tragedies,  VIII) :  No  might 
of  the  flames  or  of  the  swollen  winds,  no 
deadly  weapon,  is  so  much  to  be  feared 
as  the  lust  and  hatred  of  a  woman  who 
has  been  divorced  from  the  marriage 
bed.* 

This  is  shown  too  in  the  woman  who 
falsely  accused  Joseph,  and  caused  him 
to  be  imprisoned  because  he  would  not 
consent  to  the  crime  of  adultery  with 
her  (Genesis  xxx) .  And  truly  the  most 
powerful  cause  which  contributes  to  the 
increase  of  witches  is  the  woeful  rivalry 
between  married  folk  and  unmarried 
women  and  men.  This  is  so  even  among 
holy  women,  so  what  must  it  be  among 
the  others?  For  you  see  in  Genesis  xxi. 
how  impatient  and  envious  Sarah  was 
of  Hagar  when  she  conceived:  how 
jealous  Rachel  was  of  Leah  because  she 
had  no  children  (Genesis  xxx) :  and 
Hannah,  who  was  barren,  of  the  fruitful 
Peninnah  (I.  Kings  i) :  and  how  Miriam 
(Numbers  xii)  murmured  and  spoke  ill 
of  Moses,  and  was  therefore  stricken 
with  leprosy :  and  how  Martha  was 
jealous  of  Mary  Magdalen,  because  she 
was  busy  and  Mary  was  sitting  down 
(S.  Luke  x).  To  this  point  is  Eccle¬ 
siasticus  xxxvii :  Neither  consult  with  a 
woman  touching  her  of  whom  she  is 
jealous.  Meaning  that  it  is  useless  to 
consult  with  her,  since  there  is  always 
jealousy,  that  is,  envy,  in  a  wicked 
woman.  And  if  women  behave  thus  to 
each  other,  how  much  more  will  they 
do  so  to  men. 

Valerius  Maximus  tells  how,  when 
Phoroneus,  the  king  of  the  Greeks,  was 
dying,  he  said  to  his  brother  Leontius 
that  there  would  have  been  nothing 
lacking  to  him  of  complete  happiness  if 
a  wife  had  always  been  lacking  to  him. 
And  when  Leontius  asked  how  a  wife 
could  stand  in  the  way  of  happiness,  he 
answered  that  all  married  men  well 
knew.  And  when  the  philosopher  So¬ 
crates  was  asked  if  one  should  marry  a 
wife,  he  answered :  If  you  do  not,  you 
are  lonely,  your  family  dies  out,  and  a 
stranger  inherits ;  if  you  do,  you  suffer 
perpetual  anxiety,  querulous  com¬ 
plaints,  reproaches  concerning  the  mar¬ 
riage  portion,  the  heavy  displeasure  of 
your  relations,  the  garrulousness  of  a 
mother-in-law,  cuckoldom,  and  no  cer¬ 
tain  arrival  of  an  heir.  This  he  said  as 


*  “Seneca.”  “Medea”  579-82. 


one  who  knew.  For  S.  Jerome  in  his 
Contra  Iouinianum\  says:  This  Socrates 
had  two  wives,  whom  he  endured  with 
much  patience,  but  could  not  be  rid  of 
their  contumelies  and  clamorous  vi¬ 
tuperations.  So  one  day  when  they 
were  complaining  against  him,  he  went 
out  of  the  house  to  escape  their  plagu¬ 
ing,  and  sat  down  before  the  house ;  and 
the  women  then  threw  filthy  water  over 
him.  But  the  philosopher  was  not  dis¬ 
turbed  by  this,  saying,  ‘T  knew  that  the 
rain  would  come  after  the  thunder.” 

There  is  also  a  story  of  a  man  whose 
wife  was  drowned  in  a  river,  who,  when 
he  was  searching  for  the  body  to  take  it 
out  of  the  water,  walked  up  the  stream. 
And  when  he  was  asked  why,  since 
heavy  bodies  do  not  rise  but  fall,  he 
was  searching  against  the  current  of  the 
river,  he  answered  :  “When  that  woman 
was  alive  she  always,  both  in  word  and 
deed,  went  contrary  to  my  commands ; 
therefore  I  am  searching  in  the  contrary 
direction  in  case  even  now  she  is  dead 
she  may  preserve  her  contrary  dis¬ 
position.” 

And  indeed,  just  as  through  the  first 
defect  in  their  intelligence  they  are  more 
prone  to  abjure  the  faith;  so  through 
their  second  defect  of  inordinate  affec¬ 
tions  and  passions  they  search  for, 
brood  over,  and  inflict  various  ven¬ 
geances,  either  by  witchcraft,  or  by 
some  other  means.  Wherefore  it  is  no 
wonder  that  so  great  a  number  of 
witches  exist  in  this  sex. 

Women  also  have  weak  memories; 
and  it  is  a  natural  vice  in  them  not  to 
be  disciplined,  but  to  follow  their  own 
impulses  without  any  sense  of  what  is 
due ;  this  is  her  whole  study,  and  all  that 
she  keeps  in  her  memory.  So  Theo¬ 
phrastus  says :  If  you  hand  over  the 
whole  management  of  the  house  to  her, 
but  reserve  some  minute  detail  to  your 
own  judgement,  she  will  think  that  you 
are  displaying  a  great  want  of  faith  in 
her,  and  will  stir  up  strife;  and  unless 
you  quickly  take  counsel,  she  will  pre¬ 
pare  poison  for  you,  and  consult  seers 
and  soothsayers;  and  will  become  a 
witch. 

But  as  to  domination  by  women,  hear 
what  Cicero  says  in  the  Paradoxes.  Can 
he  be  called  a  free  man  whose  wife 
governs  him,  imposes  laws  on  him, 
orders  him,  and  forbids  him  to  do  what 


*  “Contra  Iouiniamm.”  This  treatise  was 
written  392-95. 


46 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  6. 


1l|  he  wishes,  so  that  he  cannot  and  dare 
not  deny  her  anything  that  she  asks? 
I  should  call  him  not  only  a  slave,  but 
the  vilest  of  slaves,  even  if  he  comes  of 
the  noblest  family.  And  Seneca,  in  the 
character  of  the  raging  Medea,*  says : 
Why  do  you  cease  to  follow  your  happy 
impulse;  how  great  is  that  part  of 
vengeance  in  which  you  rejoice?  Where 
he  adduces  many  proofs  that  a  woman 
will  not  be  governed,  but  will  follow  her 
own  impulse  even  to  her  own  destruc¬ 
tion.  In  the  same  way  we  read  of  many 
women  who  have  killed  themselves 
either  for  love  or  sorrow  because  they 
were  unable  to  work  their  vengeance. 

S.  Jerome,  writing  of  Daniel,  tells  a 
story  of  Laodice,  wife  of  Antiochus  king 
of  Syria;  how,  being  jealous  lest  he 
should  love  his  other  wife,  Berenice, 
more  than  her,  she  first  caused  Berenice 
and  her  daughter  by  Antiochus  to  be 
slain,  and  then  poisoned  herself.  And 
why?  Because  she  would  not  be  gov¬ 
erned,  but  would  follow  her  own  im¬ 
pulse.  Therefore  S.  John  Chrysostom 
says  not  without  reason :  O  evil  worse 
than  all  evil,  a  wicked  woman,  whether 
she  be  poor  or  rich.  For  if  she  be  the 
wife  of  a  rich  man,  she  does  not  cease 
night  and  day  to  excite  her  husband 
with  hot  words,  to  use  evil  blandish¬ 
ments  and  violent  importunations.  And 
if  she  have  a  poor  husband  she  does  not 
cease  to  stir  him  also  to  anger  and  strife. 
And  if  she  be  a  widow,  she  takes  it  upon 
herself  everywhere  to  look  down  on 
everybody,  and  is  inflamed  to  all  bold¬ 
ness  by  the  spirit  of  pride. 

If  we  inquire,  we  find  that  nearly  all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world  have  been 
overthrown  by  women.  Troy,  which 
was  a  prosperous  kingdom,  was,  for  the 
rape  of  one  woman,  Helen,  destroyed, 
and  many  thousands  of  Greeks  slain. 
The  kingdom  of  the  Jews  suffered  much 
misfortune  and  destruction  through  the 
accursed  Jezebel,  and  her  daughter 
Athaliah,  queen  of  Judah,  who  caused 
her  son’s  sons  to  be  killed,  that  on  their 
death  she  might  reign  herself;  yet  each 
of  them  was  slain.  The  kingdom  of  the 
I }  Romans  endured  much  evil  through 
Cleopatra,  Queen  of  Egypt,  that  worst 
of  women.  And  so  with  others.  There¬ 
fore  it  is  no  wonder  if  the  world  now 
suffers  through  the  malice  of  women. 


*  “Medea.”  V,  895-6: 

Quid ,  anime ,  cessas  sequere  felicem  impetum  ? 
Pars  ultionis  ista ,  qua  gaudes ,  quota  est? 


And  now  let  us  examine  the  carnal 
desires  of  the  body  itself,  whence  has 
arisen  unconscionable  harm  to  human 
life.  Justly  may  we  say  with  Cato  of 
Utica:  If  the  world  could  be  rid  of 
women,  we  should  not  be  without  God 
in  our  intercourse.  For  truly,  without 
the  wickedness  of  women,  to  say 
nothing  of  witchcraft,  the  world  would 
still  remain  proof  against  innumerable 
dangers.  Hear  what  Valerius  said  to 
Rufinus :  You  do  not  know  that  woman 
is  the  Chimaera,  but  it  is  good  that  you 
should  know  it ;  for  that  monster  was  of 
three  forms;  its  face  was  that  of  a 
radiant  and  noble  lion,  it  had  the  filthy 
belly  of  a  goat,  and  it  was  armed  with 
the  virulent  tail  of  a  viper.  And  he 
means  that  a  woman  is  beautiful  to  look 
upon,  contaminating  to  the  touch,  and 
deadly  to  keep. 

Let  us  consider  another  property  of 
hers,  the  voice.  For  as  she  is  a  liar  by 
nature,  so  in  her  speech  she  stings  while 
she  delights  us.  Wherefore  her  voice  is 
like  the  song  of  the  Sirens,  who  with 
their  sweet  melody  entice  the  passers-by 
and  kill  them.  For  they  kill  them  by 
emptying  their  purses,  consuming  their 
strength,  and  causing  them  to  forsake 
God.  Again  Valerius  says  to  Rufinus: 
When  she  speaks  it  is  a  delight  which 
flavours  the  sin ;  the  flower  of  love  is  a 
rose,  because  under  its  blossom  there 
are  hidden  many  thorns.  See  Proverbs 
v,  3-4:  Her  mouth  is  smoother  than 
oil ;  that  is,  her  speech  is  afterwards  as 
bitter  as  absinthium.  [Her  throat  is 
smoother  than  oil.  But  her  end  is  as 
bitter  as  wormwood.] 

Let  us  consider  also  her  gait,  posture, 
and  habit,  in  which  is  vanity  of  vanities. 
There  is  no  man  in  the  world  who 
studies  so  hard  to  please  the  good  God 
as  even  an  ordinary  woman  studies  by  / 
her  vanities  to  please  men.  An  example 
of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  life  of 
Pelagia,*  a  worldly  woman  who  was 

*  “ Pelagia .”  “Pelagia  meretrix”  or  “Pelagia 
mima ,”  a  beautiful  actress  who  led  the  life  cf  a 
prostitute  at  Antioch.  She  was  converted  by  the 
holy  bishop  Nonnus ,  and  disguised  as  a  man 
went  on  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem ,  where  for  many 
years  she  led  a  life  of  extremest  mortification  and 
penance  in  a  grotto  on  the  Mount  of  Olives. 
This  “bienheureuse  picheresse ”  attained  to  such 
heights  of  sanctity  that  she  was  canonized ,  and 
in  the  East,  where  her  cult  was  long  very 
popular ,  her  festival  is  kept  on  8  October,  which 
is  also  the  day  of  her  commemoration  in  the 
Roman  Martyrology. 


Part  I.  Question  6. 


MALEFICARUM 


47 


wont  to  go  about  Antioch  tired  and 
adorned  most  extravagantly.  A  holy 
father,  named  Nonnus,  saw  her  and 
began  to  weep,  saying  to  his  com¬ 
panions,  that  never  in  all  his  life  had  he 
used  such  diligence  to  please  God ;  and 
much  more  he  added  to  this  effect, 
which  is  preserved  in  his  orations. 

It  is  this  which  is  lamented  in  Eccle¬ 
siastes  vii,  and  which  the  Church  even 
now  laments  on  account  of  the  great 
multitude  of  witches.  And  I  have 
found  a  woman  more  bitter  than  death, 
who  is  the  hunter’s  snare,  and  her  heart 
is  a  net,  and  her  hands  are  bands.  He 
that  pleaseth  God  shall  escape  from  her ; 
but  he  that  is  a  sinner  shall  be  caught 
by  her.  More  bitter  than  death,  that 
is,  than  the  devil :  Apocalypse  vi,  8,  His 
name  was  Death.  For  though  the  devil 
tempted  Eve  to  sin,  yet  Eve  seduced 
Adam.  And  as  the  sin  of  Eve  would  not 
have  brought  death  to  our  soul  and 
body  unless  the  sin  had  afterwards 
passed  on  to  Adam,  to  which  he  was 
tempted  by  Eve,  not  by  the  devil, 
therefore  she  is  more  bitter  than  death. 

More  bitter  than  death,  again,  be¬ 
cause  that  is  natural  and  destroys  only 
the  body ;  but  the  sin  which  arose  from 
woman  destroys  the  soul  by  depriving  it 
of  grace,  and  delivers  the  body  up  to  the 
punishment  for  sin. 

More  bitter  than  death,  again,  be¬ 
cause  bodily  death  is  an  open  and  ter¬ 
rible  enemy,  but  woman  is  a  wheedling 
and  secret  enemy. 

And  that  she  is  more  perilous  than  a 
snare  does  not  speak  of  the  snare  of 
hunters,  but  of  devils.  For  men  are 
caught  not  only  through  their  carnal 
desires,  when  they  see  and  hear  women : 
for  S.  Bernard  says:  Their  face  is  a 
burning  wind,  and  their  voice  the  hiss¬ 
ing  of  serpents:  but  they  also  cast 
wicked  spells  on  countless  men  and 
animals.  And  when  it  is  said  that  her 
heart  is  a  net,  it  speaks  of  the  inscrutable 
malice  which  reigns  in  their  hearts. 
And  her  hands  are  as  bands  for  binding ; 
for  when  they  place  their  hands  on  a 
creature  to  bewitch  it,  then  with  the  help 
of  the  devil  they  perform  their  design, 

I  To  conclude.  All  witchcraft  comes 
from  carnal  lust,  which  is  in  women  in¬ 
satiable.  See  Proverbs  xxx:  There  are 
three  things  that  are  never  satisfied,  yea, 
a  fourth  thing  which  says  not,  It  is 
enough ;  that  is,  the  mouth  of  the  womb. 
Wherefore  for  the  sake  of  fulfilling  their 
lusts  they  consort  even  with  devils. 


More  such  reasons  could  be  brought  for¬ 
ward,  but  to  the  understanding  it  is 
sufficiently  clear  that  it  is  no  matter  for 
wonder  that  there  are  more  women  than 
men  found  infected  with  the  heresy  of 
witchcraft.  And  in  consequence  of  this, 
it  is  better  called  the  heresy  of  witches 
than  of  wizards,  since  the  name  is  taken 
from  the  more  powerful  party.  And 
blessed  be  the  Highest  Who  has  so  far 
preserved  the  male  sex  from  so  great  a 
crime:  for  since  He  was  willing  to  be 
born  and  to  suffer  for  us,  therefore  He 
has  granted  to  men  this  privilege. 

What  sort  of  Women  are  found  to  be  above 
all  Others  Superstitious  and  Witches. 

As  to  our  second  inquiry,  what  sort  of 
women  more  than  others  are  found  to 
be  superstitious  and  infected  with  witch¬ 
craft;  it  must  be  said,  as  was  shown  in 
the  preceding  inquiry,  that  three 
general  vices  appear  to  have  special 
dominion  over  wicked  women,  namely, 
infidelity,  ambition,  and  lust.  There¬ 
fore  they  are  more  than  others  inclined 
towards  witchcraft,  who  more  than 
others  are  given  to  these  vices.  Again, 
since  of  these  three  vices  the  last 
chiefly  predominates,  women  being 
insatiable,  etc.,  it  follows  that  those 
among  ambitious  women  are  more 
deeply  infected  who  are  more  hot  to 
satisfy  their  filthy  lusts;  and  such  are 
adulteresses,  fornicatresses,  and  the 
concubines  of  the  Great. 

Now  there  are,  as  it  is  said  in  the 
Papal  Bull,  seven  methods  by  which 
they  infect  with  witchcraft  the  venereal 
act  and  the  conception  of  the  womb: 
First,  by  inclining  the  minds  of  men  to 
inordinate  passion ;  second,  by  ob¬ 
structing  their  gererative  force;  third, 
by  removing  the  members  accommo¬ 
dated  to  that  act ;  fourth,  by  changing 
men  into  beasts  by  their  magic  art; 
fifth,  by  destroying  the  generative  force 
in  women;  sixth,  by  procuring  abor¬ 
tion;  seventh,  by  offering  children  to 
devils,  besides  other  animals  and  fruits 
of  the  earth  with  which  they  work  much 
harm.  And  all  these  will  be  considered 
later ;  but  for  the  present  let  us  give  our 
minds  to  the  injuries  towards  men. 

And  first  concerning  those  who  are 
bewitched  into  an  inordinate  love  or 
hatred,  this  is  a  matter  of  a  sort  that  it 
is  difficult  to  discuss  before  the  general 
intelligence.  Yet  it  must  be  granted 
that  it  is  a  fact.  For  S.  Thomas  (IV, 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  7. 


48 


34),  treating  of  obstructions  caused  by 
witches,  shows  that  God  allows  the 
devil  greater  power  against  men’s 
venereal  acts  than  against  their  other 
actions ;  and  gives  this  reason,  that  this 
is  likely  to  be  so,  since  those  women  are 
chiefly  apt  to  be  witches  who  are  most 
disposed  to  such  acts 

For  he  says  that,  since  the  first  cor¬ 
ruption  of  sin  by  which  man  became 
the  slave  of  the  devil  came  to  us 
through  the  act  of  generation,  therefore 
greater  power  is  allowed  by  God  to  the 
devil  in  this  act  than  in  all  others.  Also 
the  power  of  witches  is  more  apparent 
in  serpents,  as  it  is  said,  than  in  other 
animals,  because  through  the  means  of 
a  serpent  the  devil  tempted  woman. 
For  this  reason  also,  as  is  shown  after¬ 
wards,  although  matrimony  is  a  work 
of  God,  as  being  instituted  by  Him,  yet 
it  is  sometimes  wrecked  by  the  work  of 
the  devil:  not  indeed  through  main 
force,  since  then  he  might  be  thought 
stronger  than  God,  but  with  the  per¬ 
mission  of  God,  by  causing  some  tem¬ 
porary  or  permanent  impediment  in 
the  conjugal  act. 

And  touching  this  we  may  say  what 
is  known  by  experience ;  that  these 
women  satisfy  their  filthy  lusts  not  only 
in  themselves,  but  even  in  the  mighty 
ones  of  the  age,  of  whatever  state  and 
condition ;  causing  by  all  sorts  of  witch¬ 
craft  the  death  of  their  souls  through  the 
excessive  infatuation  of  carnal  love,  in 
such  a  way  that  for  no  shame  or  per¬ 
suasion  can  they  desist  from  such  acts. 
rAnd  through  such  men,  since  the 
witches  will  not  permit  any  harm  to 
come  to  them  either  from  themselves  or 
from  others  once  they  have  them  in  their 
power,  there  arises  the  great  danger  of 
the  time,  namely,  the  extermination  of 
the  Faith.  And  in  this  way  do  witches 
every  day  increase. 

And  would  that  this  were  not  true 
according  to  experience.  But  indeed 
such  hatred  is  aroused  by  witchcraft 
between  those  joined  in  the  sacrament 
of  matrimony,  and  such  freezing  up  of 
the  generative  forces,  that  men  are  un¬ 
able  to  perform  the  necessary  action  for 
begetting  offspring.  But  since  love  and 
hate  exist  in  the  soul,  which  even  the 
devil  cannot  enter,  lest  these  things 
should  seem  incredible  to  anyone,  they 
must  be  inquired  into ;  and  by  meeting 
argument  with  argument  the  matter  will 
be  made  clear. 

it 


QUESTION  VII 

Whether  Witches  can  Sway  the  Minds  of 
Men  to  Love  or  Hatred. 

IT  is  asked  whether  devils,  through  the 
medium  of  witches,  can  change  or 
incite  the  minds  of  men  to  inordinate 
love  or  hatred;  and  it  is  argued  that, 
following  the  previous  conclusions,  they 
cannot  do  so.  For  there  are  three  things 
in  man :  will,  understanding,  and  body. 
The  first  is  ruled  by  God  Himself  (for, 
The  heart  of  the  king  is  in  the  hand  of 
the  Lord) ;  the  second  is  enlightened  by 
an  Angel ;  and  the  body  is  governed  by 
the  motions  of  the  stars.  And  as  the 
devils  cannot  effect  changes  in  the  body, 
even  less  have  they  power  to  incite  love 
or  hatred  in  the  soul.  The  consequence 
is  clear;  that  though  they  have  more 
power  over  things  corporeal  than  over 
things  spiritual,  they  cannot  change 
even  the  body,  as  has  been  often 
proved.  For  they  cannot  induce  any 
substantial  or  accidental  form,  except 
by  the  help  of  some  other  agent,  which 
is  as  it  were  their  artificer.  In  this  con¬ 
nexion  is  quoted  what  has  been  said 
before ;  that  whoever  believes  that  any 
creature  can  be  changed  for  the  better 
or  the  worse  or  transformed  into 
another  kind  or  likeness,  except  by  the 
Creator  of  all  things,  is  worse  than  a 
pagan  and  a  heretic. 

Besides,  everything  that  acts  with  de¬ 
sign  knows  its  own  effect.  If,  therefore, 
the  devil  could  change  the  minds  of  men 
to  hatred  or  love,  he  would  also  be  able 
to  see  the  inner  thoughts  of  the  heart; 
but  this  is  contrary  to  what  is  said  in  the 
Book  of  Ecclesiastic  Dogma :  The  devil 
cannot  see  our  inner  thoughts.  And 
again  in  the  same  place:  Not  all  our 
evil  thoughts  are  from  the  devil,  but 
sometimes  they  arise  from  our  own 
choice. 

Besides,  love  and  hatred  are  a  matter 
of  the  will,  which  is  rooted  in  the  soul ; 
therefore  they  cannot  by  any  cunning  be 
caused  by  the  devil.  The  conclusion 
holds  that  He  alone  (as  S.  Augustine 
says)  is  able  to  enter  into  the  soul,  Who 
created  it. 

Besides,  it  is  not  valid  to  argue  that 
because  he  can  influence  the  inner  emo¬ 
tions,  therefore  he  can  govern  the  will. 
For  the  emotions  are  stronger  than 
physical  strength;  and  the  devil  can 
effect  nothing  in  a  physical  way,  such 
as  the  formation  of  flesh  and  blood; 


Part  I.  Question  7. 


MALEFICARUM 


49 


therefore  he  can  effect  nothing  through 
the  emotions. 

But  against  this.  The  devil  is  said  to 
tempt  men  not  only  visibly  but  also  in¬ 
visibly;  but  this  would  not  be  true 
unless  he  were  able  to  exert  some  in¬ 
fluence  over  the  inner  mind.  Besides,  S. 
John  Damascene  says :  All  evil  and  all 
filthiness  is  devised  by  the  devil.  And 
Dionysius,  de  Divin.  Nom.  IV :  The  mul¬ 
titude  of  devils  is  the  cause  of  all  evil,  etc. 

Answer.  First,  one  sort  of  cause  is  to  be 
distinguished  from  another:  secondly, 
we  shall  show  how  the  devil  can  affect 
the  inner  powers  of  the  mind,  that  is  the 
emotions;  and  thirdly,  we  shall  draw 
the  fit  conclusion.  And  as  to  the  first, 
it  is  to  be  considered  that  the  cause  of 
anything  can  be  understood  in  two 
ways;  either  as  direct,  or  as  indirect. 
For  when  something  causes  a  disposition 
to  some  effect,  it  is  said  to  be  an  occa¬ 
sional  and  indirect  cause  of  that  effect. 
In  this  way  it  may  be  said  that  he  who 
chops  wood  is  the  cause  of  the  actual 
fire.  And  similarly  we  may  say  that  the 
devil  is  the  cause  of  all  our  sins ;  for  he 
incited  the  first  man  to  sin,  from  whose 
sin  it  has  been  handed  down  to  the 
whole  human  race  to  have  an  inclina¬ 
tion  towards  all  sin.  And  in  this  way 
are  to  be  understood  the  words  of  S. 
John  Damascene  and  Dionysius. 

But  a  direct  cause  is  one  that  directly 
causes  an  effect;  and  in  this  sense  the 
devil  is  not  the  cause  of  all  sin.  For  all 
sins  are  not  committed  at  the  instiga¬ 
tion  of  the  devil,  but  some  are  of  our 
own  choosing.  For  Origen  says:  Even 
if  the  devil  were  not,  men  would  still 
lust  after  food  and  venery  and  such 
things.  And  from  these  inordinate 
lusts  much  may  result,  unless  such 
appetites  be  reasonably  restrained.  But 
to  restrain  such  ungoverned  desire  is  the 
part  of  man’s  free-will,  over  which  even 
the  devil  has  no  power. 

And  because  this  distinction  is  not 
sufficient  to  explain  how  the  devil  at 
times  produces  a  frantic  infatuation  of 
love,  it  is  further  to  be  noted  that  though 
he  cannot  cause  that  inordinate  love  by 
directly  compelling  a  man’s  will,  yet  he 
can  do  so  by  means  of  persuasion.  And 
this  again  in  two  ways,  either  visibly  or 
invisibly.  Visibly,  when  he  appears  to 
witches  in  ffie  visiple  formTof  a  man,  and 
speaks  to  them  materially,  persuading 
them  to  sin.  So  he  tempted  our  first 
parents  in  Paradise  in  the  form  of  a 
serpent;  and  so  he  tempted  Christ  in 


the  wilderness,  appearing  to  Him  in 
visible  form. 

But  it  is  not  to  be  thought  that  this  is 
the  only  way  he  influences  a  man ;  for  in 
that  case  no  sin  would  proceed  from  the 
devil’s  instruction,  except  such  as  were 
suggested  by  him  in  visible  form. 
Therefore  it  must  be  said  that  even 
invisibly  he  instigates  man  to  sin.  And 
this  he  does  in  two  ways,  either  by 
persuasion  or  by  disposition.  By  per¬ 
suasion,  he  presents  something  to  the 
understanding  as  being  a  good  thing. 
And  this  he  can  do  in  three  ways ;  for  he 
presents  it  either  to  the  intellect,  or  to 
the  inner  perceptions,  or  to  the  outer. 
And  as  for  the  intellect ;  the  human  in¬ 
tellect  can  be  helped  by  a  good  Angel  to 
understand  a  thing  by  means  of  en¬ 
lightenment,  as  Dionysius  says;  and  to 
understand  a  thing,  according  to  Aris¬ 
totle,  is  to  suffer  something:  therefore 
the  devil  can  impress  some  form  upon 
the  intellect,  by  which  the  act  of  under¬ 
standing.  is  called  forth. 

And  it  may  be  argued  that  the  devil 
can  do  this  by  his  natural  power,  which 
is  not,  as  has  been  shown,  diminished. 
It  is  to  be  said,  however,  that  he  cannot 
do  this  by  means  of  enlightenment,  but 
by  persuasion.  For  the  intellect  of  man 
is  of  that  condition  that,  the  more  it  is 
enlightened,  the  more  it  knows  the 
truth,  and  the  more  it  can  defend  itself 
from  deception.  And  because  the  devil 
intends  his  deception  to  be  permanent, 
therefore  no  persuasion  that  he  uses  can 
be  called  enlightenment:  although  it 
may  be  called  revelation,  in  that  when 
he  invisibly  uses  persuasion,  by  means 
of  some  impression  he  plants  something 
on  the  inner  or  outer  senses.  And  by 
this  the  reasoning  intellect  is  persuaded 
to  perform  some  action. 

But  as  to  how  he  is  enabled  to  create 
an  impression  on  the  inner  senses,  it  is 
to  be  noted  that  the  bodily  nature  is 
naturally  born  to  be  moved  locally  by 
the  spiritual;  which  is  clear  from  the 
case  of  our  own  bodies,  which  are 
moved  by  our  souls ;  and  the  same  is  the 
case  with  the  stars.  But  it  is  not  by 
nature  adapted  to  be  directly  subject  to 
influences,  by  which  we  mean  outside 
influences,  not  those  with  which  it  is 
informed.  Wherefore  the  concurrence 
of  some  bodily  agent  is  necessary,  as  is 
proved  in  the  7th  book  of  the  Meta¬ 
physics.  Corporeal  matter  naturally 
obeys  a  good  or  bad  angel  as  to  local 
motion ;  and  it  is  due  to  this  that  devils 


50 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  7. 


can  through  local  motion  collect  semen, 
and  employ  it  for  the  production  of 
wonderful  results.  This  was  how  it  hap¬ 
pened  that  Pharao’s  magicians  pro¬ 
duced  serpents  and  actual  animals, 
when  corresponding  active  and  passive 
agents  were  brought  together.  There¬ 
fore  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the 
devils  from  effecting  anything  that 
appertains  to  the  local  motion  of  cor¬ 
poreal  matter,  unless  God  prevent  it. 

And  now  let  us  examine  how  the  devil 
can  through  local  motion  excite  the 
fancy  and  inner  sensory  perceptions  of  a 
man  by  apparitions  and  impulsive 
actions.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  Aristotle 
(De  Somno  et  Uigilia )  assigns  the  cause  of 
apparitions  in  dreams  through  local 
motion  to  the  fact  that,  when  an  animal 
sleeps  the  blood  flows  to  the  inmost  seat 
of  the  senses,  from  which  descend  mo¬ 
tions  or  impressions  which  remain  from 
past  impressions  preserved  in  the  mind 
or  inner  perception ;  and  these  are 
Fancy  or  Imagination,  which  are  the 
same  thing  according  to  S.  Thomas,  as 
will  be  shown. 

For  fancy  or  imagination  is  as  it  were 
the  treasury  of  ideas  received  through 
the  senses.  And  through  this  it  happens 
that  devils  so  stir  up  the  inner  percep¬ 
tions,  that  is  the  power  of  conserving 
images,  that  they  appear  to  be  a  new 
impression  at  that  moment  received 
from  exterior  things. 

It  is  true  that  all  do  not  agree  to  this ; 
but  if  anyone  wishes  to  occupy  himself 
with  this  question,  he  must  consider  the 
number  and  the  office  of  the  inner  per¬ 
ceptions.  According  to  Avicenna,  in  his 
book  On  the  Mind ,  these  are  five : 
namely,  Common  Sense,  Fancy,  Im¬ 
agination,  Thought,  and  Memory.  But 
S.  Thomas,  in  the  First  Part  of  Ques¬ 
tion  79,  says  that  they  are  only  four, 
since  Fancy  and  Imagination  are  the 
same  thing.  For  fear  of  prolixity  I  omit 
much  more  that  has  variously  been  said 
on  this  subject. 

Only  this  must  be  said ;  that  fancy  is 
the  treasury  of  ideas,  but  memory 
appears  to  be  something  different.  For 
fancy  is  the  treasury  or  repository  of 
ideas  received  through  the  senses;  but 
memory  is  the  treasury  of  instincts, 
which  are  not  received  through  the 
senses.  For  when  a  man  sees  a  wolf,  he 
runs  away,  not  because  of  its  ugly  colour 
or  appearance,  which  are  ideas  re¬ 
ceived  through  the  outer  senses  and 
conserved  in  his  fancy;  but  he  runs 


away  because  the  wolf  is  his  natural 
enemy.  And  this  he  knows  through 
some  instinct  or  fear,  which  is  apart 
from  thought,  which  recognizes  the 
wolf  as  hostile,  but  a  dog  as  friendly. 
But  the  repository  of  those  instincts  is 
memory.  And  reception  and  retention 
are  two  different  things  in  animal 
nature;  for  those  who  are  of  a  humid 
disposition  receive  readily,  but  retain 
badly ;  and  the  contrary  is  the  case  with 
those  of  a  dry  humour. 

To  return  to  the  question.  The  appa¬ 
ritions  that  come  in  dreams  to  sleepers 
proceed  from  the  ideas  retained  in  the 
repository  of  their  mind,  through  a 
natural  local  motion  caused  by  the  flow 
of  blood  to  the  first  and  inmost  seat  of 
their  faculties  off  perception;  and  we 
speak  of  an  intrinsic  local  motion  in  the 
head  and  the  cells  of  the  brain. 

And  this  can  also  happen  through  a 
similar  local  motion  created  by  devils. 
Also  such  things  happen  not  only  to  the 
sleeping,  but  even  to  those  who  are 
awake.  For  in  these  also  the  devils  can 
stir  up  and  excite  the  inner  perceptions 
and  humours,  so  that  ideas  retained  in 
the  repositories  of  their  minds  are  drawn 
out  and  made  apparent  to  the  faculties 
of  fancy  and  imagination,  so  that  such 
men  imagine  these  things  to  be  true. 
And  this  is  called  interior  temptation. 

And  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  devil  can 
do  this  by  his  own  natural  power ;  since 
any  man  by  himself,  being  awake  and 
having  the  use  of  his  reason,  can  volun¬ 
tarily  draw  from  his  repositories  the 
images  he  has  retained  in  them ;  in  such 
a  way  that  he  can  summon  to  himself 
the  images  of  whatsoever  things  he 
pleases.  And  this  being  granted,  it  is 
easy  to  understand  the  matter  of  exces¬ 
sive  infatuation  in  love. 

Now  there  are  two  ways  in  which 
devils  can,  as  has  been  said,  raise  up  this 
kind  of  images.  Sometimes  they  work 
without  enchaining  the  human  reason, 
as  has  been  said  in  the  matter  of  temp¬ 
tation,  and  the  example  of  voluntary 
imagination.  But  sometimes  the  use  of 
reason  is  entirely  chained  up ;  and  this 
may  be  exemplified  by  certain  naturally 
defective  persons,  and  by  madmen  and 
drunkards.  Therefore  it  is  no  wonder 
that  devils  can,  with  God’s  permission, 
chain  up  the  reason ;  and  such  men  are 
called  delirious,  because  their  senses 
have  been  snatched  away  by  the  devil. 
And  this  they  do  in  two  ways,  either 
with  or  without  the  help  of  witches. 


Part  I.  Question  7. 


MALEFICARUM 


5i 


For  Aristotle,  in  the  work  we  have 
quoted,  says  that  anyone  who  lives  in 
passion  is  moved  by  only  a  little  thing, 
as  a  lover  by  the  remotest  likeness  of  his 
love,  and  similarly  with  one  who  feels 
hatred.  Therefore  devils,  who  have 
learned  from  men’s  acts  to  which  pas¬ 
sions  they  are  chiefly  subject,  incite 
them  to  this  sort  of  inordinate  love  or 
hatred,  impressing  their  purpose  on 
men’s  imagination  the  more  strongly 
and  effectively,  as  they  can  do  so  the 
more  easily.  And  thk  is  the  more  easy 
for  them,  just  as  it  is  more  easy  for  a 
lover  to  summon  up  the  image  of  his 
love  from  his  memory,  and  retain  it 
pleasurably  in  his  thoughts. 

But  they  work  by  witchcraft  when 
they  do  these  things  through  and  at  the 
instance  of  witches,  by  reason  of  a  pact 
entered  into  with  them.  But  it  is  not 
possible  to  treat  of  such  matters  in 
detail,  on  account  of  the  great  number 
of  instances  both  among  the  clergy  and 
among  the  laity.  For  how  many  adul¬ 
terers  have  put  away  the  most  beautiful 
wives  to  lust  after  the  vilest  of  women ! 

We  know  of  an  old  woman  who, 
according  to  the  common  account  of 
the  brothers  in  that  monastery  even  up 
to  this  day,  in  this  manner  not  only  be¬ 
witched  three  successive  Abbots,  but 
even  killed  them,  and  in  the  same  way 
drove  the  fourth  out  of  his  mind.  For 
she  herself  publicly  confessed  it,  and 
does  not  fear  to  say :  I  did  so  and  I  do 
so,  and  they  are  not  able  to  keep  from 
loving  me  because  they  have  eaten  so 
much  of  my  dung — measuring  off  a  cer¬ 
tain  length  on  her  arm.  I  confess,  more¬ 
over,  that  since  we  had  no  case  to 
prosecute  her  or  bring  her  to  trial,  she 
survives  to  this  day. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  it  was  said 
that  the  devil  invisibly  lures  a  man  to 
sin,  not  only  by  means  of  persuasion,  as 
has  been  said,  but  also  by  the  means  of 
disposition.  Although  this  is  not  very 
pertinent,  yet  be  it  said  that  by  a  similar 
admonition  of  the  disposition  and 
humours  of  men,  he  renders  some  more 
disposed  to  anger,  or  concupiscence,  or 
other  passions.  For  it  is  manifest  that  a 
man  who  has  a  body  so  disposed  is  more 
prone  to  concupiscence  and  anger  and 
such  passions ;  and  when  they  are 
aroused,  he  is  more  apt  to  surrender  to 
them.  But  because  it  is  difficult  to  quote 
precedents,  therefore  an  easier  method 
must  be  found  of  declaring  them  for  the 
admonition  of  the  people.  And  in  the 


Second  Part  of  this  book  we  treat  of  the 
remedies  by  which  men  so  bewitched 
can  be  set  free. 

The  Method  of  Preaching  to  the  People 
about  Infatuate  Love. 

Concerning  what  has  been  said 
above,  a  preacher  asks  this  question: 
Is  it  a  Catholic  view  to  maintain  that 
witches  can  infect  the  minds  of  men 
with  an  inordinate  love  of  strange 
women,  and  so  inflame  their  hearts  that 
by  no  shame  or  punishment,  by  no 
words  or  actions  can  they  be  forced  to 
desist  from  such  love;  and  that  simi¬ 
larly  they  can  stir  up  such  hatred  be¬ 
tween  married  couples  that  they  are 
unable  in  any  way  to  perform  the  pro¬ 
creant  functions  of  marriage;  so  that, 
indeed,  in  the  untimely  silence  of  night, 
they  cover  great  distances  in  search  of 
mistresses  and  irregular  lovers? 

As  to  this  matter,  he  may,  if  he  wishes, 
find  some  arguments  in  the  preceding 
question.  Otherwise,  it  need  only  be 
said  that  there  are  difficulties  in  those 
questions  oq  account  of  love  and  hate. 
For  these  passions  invade  the  will,  which 
is  in  its  own  act  always  free,  and  not  to 
be  coerced  by  any  creature  except  God,  A 
Who  can  govern  it.  From  which  it  is 
clear  that  neither  the  devil  nor  a  witch 
working  by  his  power  can  force  a  man’s 
will  to  love  or  to  hate.  Again,  since  the 
will,  like  the  understanding,  exists  sub¬ 
jectively  in  the  soul,  and  He  alone  can 
enter  into  the  soul  Who  created  it, 
therefore  this  question  presents  many 
difficulties  in  the  matter  of  unravelling 
the  truth  of  it. 

But  notwithstanding  this,  we  must 
speak  first  of  infatuation  and  hatred, 
and  secondly  about  the  bewitching  of 
the  generative  power.  And  as  to  the 
first,  although  the  devil  cannot  directly 
operate  upon  the  understanding  and 
will  of  man,  yet,  according  to  all  the 
learned  Theologians  in  the  2nd  Book 
of  Sentences ,  on  the  subject  of  the  power 
of  the  devil,  he  can  act  upon  the  body, 
or  upon  the  faculties  belonging  to  or 
allied  to  the  body,  whether  they  be  the 
inner  or  outer  perceptions.  This  is 
authoritatively  and  reasonably  proved 
in  the  preceding  question,  if  one  cares 
to  look ;  but  if  not,  there  is  the  authority 
of  Job  ii :  The  Lord  said  unto  Satan, 
Behold,  he  is  in  thine  hand.  That  is,  Job 
is  in  his  power.  But  this  was  only  in 
regard  to  the  body,  for  He  would  not 


52 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  7 


give  his  soul  into  his  power.  Wherefore 
He  said :  Only  save  thou  his  life ;  that 
is,  keep  it  unharmed.  And  that  power 
that  He  gave  him  over  his  body,  He 
gave  also  over  all  the  faculties  allied  to 
the  body,  which  are  the  four  or  five 
outer  and  inner  perceptions,  namely 
Common  Sense,  Fancy  or  Imagination, 
Thought,  and  Memory. 

If  no  other  instance  can  be  given,  let 
us  take  an  example  from  pigs  and  sheep. 
For  pigs  know  by  instinct  their  way 
home.  And  by  natural  instinct  sheep 
distinguish  a  wolf  from  a  dog,  knowing 
one  to  be  the  enemy  and  the  other  the 
friend  of  their  nature. 

Consequently,  since  all  our  reasoned 
knowledge  comes  from  the  senses  (for 
Aristotle  in  the  2nd  book  On  the  Mind 
says  that  an  intelligent  man  must  take 
notice  of  phantasms),  therefore  the  devil 
can  affect  the  inner  fancy,  and  darken 
the  understanding.  And  this  is  not  to 
act  immediately  upon  the  mind,  but 
through  the  medium  of  phantasms.  Be¬ 
cause,  also,  nothing  is  loved  until  it  is 
known. 

As  many  examples  as  are  needed 
could  be  taken  from  gold,  which  the 
miser  loves  because  he  knows  its  power, 
etc.  Therefore  when  the  understanding 
is  darkened,  the  will  also  is  darkened  in 
its  affections.  Moreover,  the  devil  can 
effect  this  either  with  or  without  the 
help  of  a  witch ;  and  such  things  can 
even  happen  through  mere  want  of  fore¬ 
sight.  But  we  shall  give  examples  of 
each  kind.  For,  as  it  is  said  in  S.  James 
i :  Every  man  is  tempted  when  he  is 
drawn  away  of  his  own  lust,  and  enticed. 
Then  when  lust  hath  conceived,  it 
bringeth  forth  sin:  and  sin,  when  it  is 
finished,  bringeth  forth  death.  Again, 
when  Shechem  saw  Dinah  going  out  to 
see  the  daughters  of  the  land,  he  loved 
her,  and  seized  her,  and  lay  with  her, 
and  his  soul  clave  unto  her  ( Genesis 
xxxiv).  And  according  to  the  gloss: 
When  the  infirm  mind  forsakes  its  own 
business,  and  takes  heed,  like  Dinah,  of 
that  of  other  people,  it  is  led  astray  by 
habit,  and  becomes  one  with  the 
sinners. 

Secondly,  that  this  lust  can  arise 
apart  from  witchcraft,  and  simply 
through  the  temptation  of  the  devil,  is 
shown  as  follows.  For  we  read  in 
II.  Samuel  xiii  that  Ammon  desperately 
loved  his  own  sister  Tamar,  and 
yearned  greatly  for  her,  so  that  he  grew 
ill  for  love  of  her.  But  no  one  would  fall 


into  so  great  and  foul  a  crime  unless  he 
were  totally  corrupt,  and  grievously 
tempted  by  the  devil.  Wherefore  the 
gloss  says :  This  is  a  warning  to  us,  and 
was  permitted  by  God  that  we  should 
always  be  on  our  guard  lest  vice  should 
get  the  mastery  over  us,  and  the  prince 
of  sin,  who  promises  a  false  peace  to 
those  who  are  in  danger,  finding  us 
ready  should  slay  us  unaware. 

Mention  is  made  of  this  sort  of  passion 
in  the  Book  of  the  Holy  Fathers,  where 
it  says  that,  however  far  they  withdrew 
themselves  from  all  carnal  lusts,  yet  they 
were  sometimes  tempted  by  the  love  of 
women  more  than  could  possibly  be  be¬ 
lieved.  Wherefore  in  II.  Corinthians  xii 
the  Apostle  says :  There  was  given  to  me 
a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  the  messenger  of 
Satan  to  buffet  me.  On  which  the  gloss 
says :  It  was  given  to  me  to  be  tempted 
by  lust.  But  he  who  is  tempted  and  does 
not  yield  is  no  sinner,  but  it  is  a  matter 
for  the  exercise  of  virtue.  And  by  temp¬ 
tation  is  understood  that  of  the  devil,  not 
that  of  the  flesh,  which  is  always  venial 
in  a  little  sin.  The  preacher  could  find 
many  examples  if  he  pleased. 

The  third  point,  that  infatuate  love 
proceeds  from  the  evil  works  of  the 
devil,  has  been  discussed  above ;  and  we 
speak  of  this  temptation. 

It  may  be  asked  how  it  is  possible  to 
tell  whether  such  inordinate  love  pro¬ 
ceeds  not  from  the  devil  but  only  from 
a  witch.  And  the  answer  is  that  there 
are  many  ways.  First,  if  the  man 
tempted  has  a  beautiful  and  honest  wife, 
or  the  converse  in  the  case  of  a  woman, 
etc.  Secondly,  if  the  judgement  of  the 
reason  is  so  chained  up  that  by  no  blows 
or  words  or  deeds,  or  even  by  shame, 
can  he  be  made  to  desist  from  that  lust 
And  thirdly,  in  especial,  when  he  can¬ 
not  contain  himself,  but  that  he  is  at 
times  unexpectedly,  and  in  spite  of  the 
roughness  of  the  journey,  forced  to  be 
carried  through  great  distances  (as  any¬ 
one  can  learn  from  the  confessions  of 
such  men),  both  by  day  and  by  night. 
For  as  S.  John  Chrysostom  says  on 
Matthew  xx  concerning  the  ass  upon 
which  Christ  rode :  When  the  devil  pos¬ 
sesses  the  will  of  a  man  with  sin,  he 
carries  him  at  his  will  where  he  pleases 
Giving  the  example  of  a  ship  in  the  sea 
without  a  rudder,  which  the  winds  carry 
about  at  their  pleasure ;  and  of  a  man 
firmly  sitting  a  horse;  and  a  King 
having  dominion  over  a  tyrant.  And 
fourthly,  it  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  they 


Part  I.  Question  7. 


MALEFICARUM 


53 


are  sometimes  suddenly  and  unex¬ 
pectedly  carried  away,  and  at  times 
transformed,  so  that  nothing  can  pre¬ 
vent  it.  It  is  shown  also  by  the  hideous¬ 
ness  of  their  very  appearance. 

And  before  we  proceed  to  the  further 
question  of  witches,  touching  the  powers 
of  generation,  which  follows,  we  must 
first  resolve  the  arguments. 

Here  Follow  the  Resolutions  of  the 
Arguments. 

But  for  the  answer  to  the  arguments : 
for  the  first,  that  the  will  of  man  is  ruled 
by  God,  just  as  his  understanding  is  by 
a  good  Angel,  the  solution  is  clear.  For 
the  intellect  is  enlightened  by  a  good 
Angel  only  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  from  which  proceeds  the  love  of 
that  which  is  good,  for  the  True  and  the 
Actual  are  the  same  thing.  So  also  the 
intellect  can  be  darkened  by  a  bad 
angel  in  the  knowledge  of  what  appears 
to  be  true ;  and  this  through  a  confusion 
of  the  ideas  and  images  received  and 
stored  by  the  perceptions,  from  which 
comes  an  inordinate  love  of  the  appar¬ 
ently  good,  such  as  bodily  delectation, 
which  such  men  seek  after. 

As  to  the  second  argument,  that  the 
devil  cannot  effect  physical  changes  in 
the  body;  this  is  in  part  true,  and  in 
part  not,  and  this  is  with  reference  to 
three  sorts  of  mutation.  For  the  devil 
cannot  change  the  body  in  such  a  way 
that  its  whole  shape  and  appearance  is 
altered  (which  is  rather  to  be  called  a 
new  production  than  a  change)  .without 
the  help  of  some  agent,  or  with  the  per¬ 
mission  oFGocfrBut  if  we  speak  of  a 
change  in  quality,  as  in  the  matter  of 
sickness  and  health,  as  has  been  shown 
before,  he  can  inflict  upon  the  body 
various  diseases,  even  to  taking  away 
the  reason,  and  so  can  cause  inordinate 
hatred  and  love. 

And  a  third  kind  of  mutation  can  be 
added,  which  is  when  a  good  or  bad 
angel  enters  into  the  body,  in  the  same 
way  that  we  say  that  God  alone  is  able 
to  enter  into  the  soul,  that  is,  the  essence 
of  life.  But  when  we  speak  of  an  angel, 
especially  a  bad  angel,  entering  the 
body,  as  in  the  case  of  an  obsession,  he 
does  not  enter  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
essence  of  the  body ;  for  in  this  way  only 
God  the  Creator  can  enter,  Who  gave  it 
to  be  as  it  were  the  intrinsic  operation  of 
life.  But  the  devil  is  said  to  enter  the 
body  when  he  effects  something  about 


the  body :  for  where  he  works,  there  he 
is,  as  S.  John  Damascene  says.  And 
then  he  works  within  the  bounds  of 
corporeal  matter,  but  not  within  the 
very  essence  of  the  body. 

From  this  it  appears  that  the  body  has 
two  properties,  matter  and  spirit.  And 
this  is  like  the  distinction  between  the 
apparent  and  the  real.  Therefore  when 
devils  enter  the  body,  they  enter  the 
powers  belonging  to  the  bodily  organs, 
and  can  so  create  impressions  on  those 
powers.  And  so  it  happens  that  through 
such  operations  and  impressions  a  phan¬ 
tasm  is  projected  before  the  understand¬ 
ing,  such  as  the  seeing  of  colours,  as  it  is 
said  in  the  3rd  book  de  Anima.  And  so 
this  impression  penetrates  also  to  the 
will.  For  the  will  takes  its  conception  of 
what  is  good  from  the  intellect,  accord¬ 
ing  as  the  intellect  accepts  something  as 
good  either  in  truth  or  in  appearance. 

As  for  the  third  argument:  a  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  thoughts  of  the  heart  may 
come  about  in  two  ways,  either  from 
seeing  their  effects  or  by  reading  them 
actually  in  the  intellect.  In  the  first  way 
they  can  be  known  not  only  by  an  angel, 
but  even  by  man,  although  it  will  be 
shown  that  an  angel  has  more  skill  in 
this  matter.  For  sometimes  the  thoughts 
are  made  evident,  not  only  by  some 
external  action,  but  even  by  a  change 
in  the  countenance.  And  doctors  also 
can  discern  some  affections  of  the  mind 
through  the  pulse.  Wherefore  S.  Augus¬ 
tine  says  ( deDiuin .  Daem.)  thatsometimes 
it  is  very  easy  to  tell  a  man’s  disposition, 
not  only  from  his  words,  but  from  his 
very  thoughts,  which  are  signs  of  the 
soul  expressed  in  the  body ;  although  in 
his  book  of  Retractations  he  says  that 
no  definite  rule  can  be  laid  down  how 
this  can  be  done ;  and  I  think  that  he  is 
reluctant  to  admit  that  the  devil  can 
know  the  inner  thoughts  of  the  heart. 

From  another  point  of  view,  the 
thoughts  of  the  intellect  and  the  affec¬ 
tions  of  the  will  can  be  known  only  by 
God.  For  the  will  of  a  rational  creature 
is  subject  only  to  God,  and  He  alone  can 
work  in  it  Who  is  its  first  cause  and 
ultimate  end.  Therefore  that  which  is 
in  the  will,  or  depends  only  on  the  will, 
is  known  only  to  God.  Moreover,  it  is 
manifest  what  depends  only  on  the  will, 
if  one  considers  things  by  their  resultant 
actions.  For  when  a  man  has  the  quality 
of  knowledge,  and  the  understanding 
that  comes  from  it,  he  uses  it  when  he 
wills. 


54 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  8. 


It  is  proved,  then,  from  what  has  been 
said,  that  a  spirit  cannot  enter  the  soul, 
therefore  he  cannot,  naturally,  see  what 
is  in  the  mind,  especially  what  is  in  the 
inner  depths  of  the  soul.  Wherefore, 
when  it  is  argued  that  the  devil  cannot 
see  the  thoughts  of  the  heart,  and  there¬ 
fore  cannot  move  the  hearts  of  men  to 
love  or  hatred,  it  is  answered  that  he 
does  learn  men’s  thoughts  through  their 
visible  effects,  and  is  more  skilful  in  this 
matter  than  man ;  and  so  by  subtle  ways 
he  can  move  men  to  love  and  hatred,  by 
creating  phantasms  and  darkening  the 
intellect. 

And  this  must  be  said  by  way  of  com¬ 
fort  to  relieve  the  apprehensions  of  the 
virtuous :  that  when  the  sensible  ex¬ 
terior  and  bodily  change  which  accom¬ 
panied  men’s  thoughts  is  so  vague  and 
indeterminate  that  the  devil  cannot  by 
it  arrive  at  any  certain  knowledge  of  the 
thoughts,  especially  when  the  virtuous 
at  times  take  a  little  leisure  from  study 
and  good  works,  he  molests  them  then 
chiefly  in  dreams;  as  is  known  by  ex¬ 
perience.  But  when  the  physical  effect 
of  thought  is  strong  and  determinate, 
the  devil  can  know  by  a  man’s  appear¬ 
ance  whether  his  thoughts  are  turned 
towards  envy  or  luxury.  But  we  find 
that  it  must  be  left  an  open  question 
whether  he  can  by  this  means  have  cer¬ 
tain  knowledge  in  respect  of  all  circum¬ 
stances,  as  such  and  such ;  although  it  is 
true  that  he  can  know  such  circum¬ 
stances  from  their  subsequent  results. 

And  fourthly:  although  to  enter  the 
soul  belongs  only  to  God,  yet  it  is  pos¬ 
sible  for  a  good  or  bad  angel  to  enter  the 
body  and  the  faculties  allied  to  the  body, 
in  the  manner  which  has  been  shown 
above.  And  in  this  way  hatred  and  love 
can  be  aroused  in  such  a  man.  For  the 
other  argument,  that  the  powers  of  the 
spirit  are  greater  than  the  physical 
powers,  which  themselves  cannot  be 
changed  by  the  devil,  it  is  answered  that 
the  physical  powers  can  be  altered  by 
the  devil,  in  so  far  as  they  can  be  has¬ 
tened  or  retarded  in  the  flesh  and  bone. 
But  he  does  this,  not  for  the  sake  of  im¬ 
peding  or  stimulating  the  inner  or  outer 
perceptions,  but  for  his  own  gain ;  since 
he  derives  his  chief  benefit  by  the  decep¬ 
tion  of  the  senses  and  the  delusion  of  the 
intellect. 

☆ 


QJJESTION  VIII 

Whether  Witches  can  hebetate  the  Powers 
of  Generation  or  obstruct  the  Venereal  Act. 

NOW  the  fact  that  adulterous  drabs 
and  whores  are  chiefly  given  to 
witchcraft  is  substantiated  by  the  spells 
which  are  cast  by  witches  upon  the  act 
of  generation.  And  to  make  the  truth 
more  clear,  we  will  consider  the  argu¬ 
ments  of  those  who  are  in  disagree¬ 
ment  with  us  on  this  matter.  And  first 
it  is  argued  that  such  a  bewitching  is  not 
possible,  because  if  it  were  it  would 
apply  equally  to  those  who  are  married ; 
and  if  tl  iis  were  conceded,  then,  since 
matrimony  is  God’s  work  and  witch¬ 
craft  is  the  devil’s,  the  devil’s  work 
would  be  stronger  than  God’s.  But  if 
it  is  allowed  that  it  can  only  affect 
fornicators  and  the  unmarried,  this  in¬ 
volves  a  return  to  the  opinion  that 
witchcraft  does  not  really  exist,  but  only 
in  men’s  imagination;  and  this  was 
refuted  in  the  First  Question.  Or  else 
some  reason  will  be  found  why  it  should 
affect  the  unmarried  and  not  the  mar¬ 
ried  ;  and  the  only  possible  reason  is  that 
matrimony  is  God’s  work.  And  since, 
according  to  the  Theologians,  this 
reason  is  not  valid,  there  still  remains 
the  argument  that  it  would  make  the 
devil’s  work  stronger  than  God’s ;  and 
since  it  would  be  unseemly  to  make  such 
an  assertion,  it  is  also  unseemly  to  main¬ 
tain  that  the  venereal  act  can  be 
obstructed  by  witchcraft. 

Again,  the  devil  cannot  obstruct  the 
other  natural  actions,  such  as  eating, 
walking  and  standing,  as  is  apparent 
from  the  fact  that,  if  he  could,  he  could 
destroy  the  whole  world. 

Besides,  since  the  venereal  act  is 
common  to  all  women,  if  it  were  ob¬ 
structed  it  would  be  so  with  reference  to 
all  women ;  but  this  is  not  so,  and  there¬ 
fore  the  first  argument  is  good.  For  the 
facts  prove  that  it  is  not  so ;  for  when  a 
man  says  that  he  has  been  bewitched, 
he  is  still  quite  capable  as  regards  other 
women,  though  not  with  her  with  whom 
he  is  unable  to  copulate ;  and  the  reason 
for  this  is  that  he  does  not  wish  to,  and 
therefore  cannot  effect  anything  in  the 
matter. 

On  the  contrary  and  true  side  is  the 
chapter  in  the  Decretals  (If  by  sortilege, 
etc.) :  as  is  also  the  opinion  of  all  the 
Theologians  and  Canonists,  where  they 


Part  I.  Question  8. 


MALEFICARUM 


55 


treat  of  the  obstruction  to  marriage 
caused  by  witchcraft. 

There  is  also  another  reason:  that  since 
the  devil  is  more  powerful  than  man, 
and  a  man  can  obstruct  the  generative 
powers  by  means  of  frigid  herbs  or 
anything  else  that  can  be  thought  of, 
therefore  much  more  can  the  devil  do 
this,  since  he  has  greater  knowledge  and 
cunning. 

Answer.  The  truth  is  sufficiently 
evident  from  two  matters  which  have 
already  been  argued,  although  the 
method  of  obstruction  has  not  been 
specifically  declared.  For  it  has  been 
shown  that  witchcraft  does  not  exist 
only  in  men’s  imaginations,  and  not  in 
fact ;  but  that  truly  and  actually  in- 
£i“e[aie  bewitchments  can  happen, 
with  the  permission  of  God.  It  has  been 
shown,  too,  that  God  permits  it  more  in 
the  case  of  the  generative  powers,  be¬ 
cause  of  their  greater  corruption,  than 
in‘  the  case  of  other  human  actions. 
But  concerning  the  method  by  which 
such  obstruction,  is  procured,  it  is  to  be 
rioted  that  it  does  not  affect  only  the 
generative  powers,  but  also  the  powers 
of  the  imagination  or  fancy. 

And  as  to  this,  Peter  of  Palude  (III, 
34)  notes  five  methods.  For  he  says 
that  the  devil,  being  a  spirit,  has  power 
over  a  corporeal  creature  to  cause  or 
prevent  a  local  motion.  Therefore  he 
can  prevent  bodies  from  approaching 
each  other,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
by  interposing  himself  in  some  bodily 
shape.  In  this  way  it  happened  to  the 
young  man  who  was  betrothed  to  an 
idol  and  nevertheless  married  a  young 
maiden,  and  was  consequently  unable 
to  copulate  with  her.  Secondly,  he  can 
excite  a  man  to  that  act,  or  freeze  his 
desire  for  it,  by  the  virtue  of  secret 
things  of  which  he  best  knows  the  power. 
Thirdly,  he  can  so  disturb  a  man’s  per¬ 
ception  and  imagination  as  to  make  the 
woman  appear  loathsome  to  him :  since 
he  can,  as  has  been  said,  influence  the 
imagination.  Fourthly,  he  can  directly 
prevent  the  erection  of  that  member 
which  is  adapted  to  fructification,  just 
as  he  can  prevent  a  local  motion. 
Fifthly,  he  can  prevent  the  flow  of  the 
vital  essence  to  the  members  in  which 
lies  the  motive  power;  by  closing  as  it 
were  the  seminary  ducts,  so  that  it  does 
not  descend  to  the  generative  channels, 
or  falls  back  from  them,  or  does  not 
project  from  them,  or  in  any  of  many 
ways  fails  in  its  function. 


And  he  continues  in  agreement  with 
what  has  been  treated  of  above  by 
other  Doctors.  For  God  allows  the 
devil  more  latitude  in  respect  of  this  act, 
through  which  sin  was  first  spread 
abroad,  than  of  other  human  acts. 
Similarly,  serpents  are  more  subject  to 
magic  spells  than  are  other  animals. 
And  a  little  later  he  says:  It  is  the  same 
in  the  case  of  a  woman,  for  the  devil  can 
so  darken  her  understanding  that  'she 
considers  her  husband  so  loathsome 
that  not  for  all  the  world  would  she 
allow  him  to  lie  with  her. 

Later  he  wishes  to  find  the  reason  why 
more  men  than  women  are  bewitched  in 
respect  of  that  action ;  and  he  says  that 
such  obstruction  generally  occurs  in  the 
seminal  duct,  or  in  an  inability  in  the 
matter  of  erection,  which  can  more 
easily  happen  to  men;  and  therefore 
more  men  than  women  are  bewitched. 
It  might  also  be  said  that,  the  greater 
part  of  witches  being  women,  they  lust 
more  for  men  than  for  women.  Also 
they  act  in  the  despite  of  married 
women,  finding  every  opportunity  for 
adultery  when  the  husband  is  able  to 
copulate  with  other  women  but  not  with 
his  own  wife ;  and  similarly  the  wife  also 
has  to  seek  other  lovers. 

He  adds  also  that  God  allows  the 
devil  to  afflict  sinners  more  bitterly 
than  the  just.  Wherefore  the  Angel  said 
to  Tobias :  He  gives  the  devil  power 
over  those  who  are  given  up  to  lust. 
But  he  has  power  also  against  the  just 
sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  Job,  but  not 
in  respect  of  the  genital  functions. 
Wherefore  they  ought  to  devote  them¬ 
selves  to  confession  and  other  good 
works,  lest  the  iron  remain  in  the 
wound,  and  it  be  in  vain  to  apply 
remedies.  So  much  for  Peter.  But  the 
method  of  removing  such  effects  will  be 
shown  in  the  Second  Part  of  this  work. 

Some  Incidental  Doubts  on  the  subject  of 
Copulation  prevented  by  Evil  Spells  are 
made  Clear. 

But  incidentally,  if  it  is  asked  why  this 
function  is  sometimes  obstructed  in  re¬ 
spect  of  one  woman  but  not  of  another, 
the  answer,  according  to  S.  Bona- 
ventura,  is  this.  Either  the  enchantress 
or  witch  afflicts  in  this  way  those  persons 
upon  whom  the  devil  has  determined ; 
or  it  is  because  God  will  not  permit  it 
to  be  inflicted  on  certain  persons.  For 
the  hidden  purpose  of  God  in  this  is 


56 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  8. 


obscure,  as  is  shown  in  the  case  of  the 
wife  of  Tobias.  And  he  adds : 

If  it  is  asked  how  the  devil  does  this, 
it  is  to  be  said  that  he  obstructs  the 
genital  power,  not  intrinsically  by 
harming  the  organ,  but  extrinsically  by 
rendering  it  useless.  Therefore,  since  it 
is  an  artificial  and  not  a  natural  ob¬ 
struction,  he  can  make  a  man  impotent 
towards  one  woman  but  not  towards 
others :  by  taking  away  the  inflamma¬ 
tion  of  his  lust  for  her,  but  not  for  other 
women,  either  through  his  own  power, 
or  through  some  herb  or  stone,  or  some 
occult  natural  means.  And  this  agrees 
with  the  words  of  Peter  of  Palude. 

Besides,  since  impotency  in  this  act 
is  sometimes  due  to  coldness  of  nature, 
or  some  natural  defect,  it  is  asked  how 
it  is  possible  to  distinguish  whether  it  is 
due  to  witchcraft  or  not.  Hostiensis 
gives  the  answer  in  his  Summa  (but  this 
must  not  be  publicly  preached) :  When 
the  member  is  in  no  way  stirred,  and 
can  never  perform  the  act  of  coition, 
this  is  a  sign  of  frigidity  of  nature ;  but 
when  it  is  stirred  and  becomes  erect, 
but  yet  cannot  perform,  it  is  a  sign  of 
witchcraft 

It  is  to  be  noted  also  that  impotence 
of  the  member  to  perform  the  act  is  not 
the  only  bewitchment;  but  sometimes 
the  woman  is  caused  to  be  unable  to 
conceive,  or  else  she  miscarries. 

Note,  moreover,  that  according  to 
what  is  laid  down  by  the  Canons,  who¬ 
ever  through  desire  of  vengeance  or  for 
hatred  does  anything  to  a  man  or  a 
woman  to  prevent  them  from  begetting 
or  conceiving  must  be  considered  a 
homicide.  And  note,  further,  that  the 
Canon  speaks  of  loose  lovers  who,  to  save 
their  mistresses  from  shame,  use  con¬ 
traceptives,  such  as  potions,  or  herbs 
that  contravene  nature,  without  any 
help  from  devils.  And  such  penitents 
•  are  to  be  punished  as  homicides.  But 
witches  who  do  such  things  by  witch¬ 
craft  are  by  law  punishable  by  the 
extreme  penalty,  as  has  been  touched 
on  above  in  the  First  Question. 

And  for  a  solution  of  the  arguments; 
when  it  is  objected  that  these  things 
cannot  happen  to  those  joined  to¬ 
gether  in  matrimony,  it  is  further  to  be 
noted  that,  even  if  the  truth  in  this 
matter  has  not  already  been  made 
sufficiently  plain,  yet  these  things  can 
truly  and  actually  happen  just  as  much 
to  those  who  are  married  as  to  those 
who  are  not.  And  the  prudent  reader, 


who  has  plenty  of  books,  will  refer  to 
the  Theologians  and  the  Canonists, 
especially  where  they  speak  of  the 
impotent  and  bewitched.  He  will  find 
them  in  agreement  in  condemning  two 
errors :  especially  with  regard  to  married 
people  who  seem  to  think  that  such 
bewitchment  cannot  happen  to  those 
who  are  joined  in  matrimony,  advanc¬ 
ing  the  reason  that  the  devil  cannot 
destroy  the  works  of  God. 

And  the  first  error  which  they  con¬ 
demn  is  that  of  those  who  say  that  there 
is  no  witchcraft  in  the  world,  but  only 
in  the  imagination  of  men  who,  through 
their  ignorance  of  hidden  causes  which 
no  man  yet  understands,  ascribe  certain 
natural  effects  to  witchcraft,  as  though 
they  were  effected  not  by  hidden  causes, 
but  by  devils  working  either  by  them¬ 
selves  or  in  conjunction  with  witches. 
And  although  all  the  other  Doctors  con¬ 
demn  this  error  as  a  pure  falsehood,  yet 
S.  Thomas  impugns  it  more  vigorously 
and  stigmatizes  it  as  actual  heresy, 
saying  that  this  error  proceeds  from 
the  root  of  infidelity.  And  since  infi¬ 
delity  in  a  Christian  is  accounted  heresy, 
therefore  such  deserve  to  be  suspected  as 
heretics.  And  this  matter  was  touched 
on  in  the  First  Question,  though  it  was 
not  there  declared  so  plainly.  For  if 
anyone  considers  the  other  sayings  of  S. 
Thomas  in  other  places,  he  will  find 
the  reasons  why  he  affirms  that  such 
an  error  proceeds  from  the  root  of 
infidelity. 

For  in  his  questions  concerning  Sin, 
where  he  treats  of  devils,  and  in  his  first 
question,  whether  devils  have  bodies 
that  naturally  belong  to  them,  among 
many  other  matters  he  makes  mention 
of  those  who  referred  every  physical 
effect  to  the  virtue  of  the  stars ;  to  which 
they  said  that  the  hidden  causes  of 
terrestrial  effects  were  subject.  And 
he  says :  It  must  be  considered  that  the 
Peripatetics,  the  followers  of  Aristotle, 
held  that  devils  did  not  really  exist; 
but  that  those  things  which  are  attri¬ 
buted  to  devils  proceeded  from  the 
power  of  the  stars  and  other  natural 
phenomena.  Wherefore  S.  Augustine 
says  (de  duitate  De'i,  X),  that  it  was 
the  opinion  of  Porphyry  that  from  herbs 
and  animals,  and  certain  sounds  and 
voices,  and  from  figures  and  figments 
observed  in  the  motion  of  the  stars, 
powers  corresponding  to  the  stars  were 
fabricated  on  earth  by  men  in  order  to 
explain  various  natural  effects.  And  the 


Part  I.  Question  8. 


MALEFICARUM 


57 


error  of  these  is  plain,  since  they  re¬ 
ferred  everything  to  hidden  causes  in 
the  stars,  holding  that  devils  were  only 
fabricated  by  the  imagination  of  men. 

But  this  opinion  is  clearly  proved  to 
be  false  by  S.  Thomas  in  the  same  work ; 
for  some  works  of  devils  are  found  which 
can  in  no  way  proceed  from  any 
natural  cause.  For  example,  when  one 
who  is  possessed  by  a  devil  speaks  in  an 
unknown  language ;  and  many  other 
devils’  works  are  found,  both  in  the 
Rhapsodic  and  the  Necromantic  arts, 
which  can  in  no  way  proceed  except 
from  some  Intelligence,  which  may  be 
naturally  good  but  is  evil  in  its  inten¬ 
tion.  And  therefore,  because  of  these 
incongruities,  other  Philosophers  were 
\  compelled  to  admit  that  there  were 
devils.  Yet  they  afterwards  fell  into 
various  errors,  some  thinking  that  the 
souls  of  men,  when  they  left  their  bodies, 
became  devils.  For  this  reason  many 
Soothsayers  have  killed  children,  that 
they  might  have  their  souls  as  their 
co-operators ;  and  many  other  errors  are 
recounted. 

From  this  it  is  clear  that  not  without 
reason  does  the  Holy  Doctor  say  that 
such  an  opinion  proceeds  from  the  root 
of  infidelity.  And  anyone  who  wishes 
may  read  S.  Augustine  ( 'de  duitate  Dei , 
VIII,  IX)  on  the  various  errors  of 
infidels  concerning  the  nature  of  devils. 
And  indeed  the  common  opinion  of  all 
Doctors,  quoted  in  the  above-mentioned 
work,  against  those  who  err  in  this  way 
by  denying  that  there  are  any  witches, 
is  very  weighty  in  its  -  meaning,  even 
if  it  is  expressed  in  few  words.  For  they 
say  that  they  who  maintain  that  there 
is  no  witchcraft  in  the  world  go  con¬ 
trary  to  the  opinion  of  all  the  Doctors, 
and  of  the  Holy  Scripture ;  and  declare 
that  there  are  devils,  and  that  devils 
have  power  over  the  bodies  and  imagi¬ 
nations  of  men,  with  the  permission  of 
God.  Wherefore,  those  who  are  the 
instruments  of  the  devils,  at  whose 
instance  the  devils  at  times  do  mischief 
to  a  creature,  they  call  witches. 

Now  in  the  Doctors’  condemnation  of 
this  first  error  nothing  is  said  concerning 
those  joined  together  in  matrimony; 
but  this  is  made  clear  in  their  condem¬ 
nation  of  the  second  error.  For  they 
say  that  others  fall  into  the  error  of 
believing  that,  though  witchcraft  exists 
and  abounds  in  the  world,  even  against 
carnal  copulation,  yet,  since  no  such 
bewitchment  can  be  considered  to  be 


permanent,  it  never  annuls  a  marriage 
that  has  already  been  contracted.  Here 
is  where  they  speak  of  those  joined  in 
matrimony.  Now  in  refuting  this  error 
(for  we  do  so,  even  though  it  is  little  to 
the  point,  for  the  sake  of  those  who  have 
not  many  books),  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
they  refute  it  by  maintaining  that  it  is 
against  all  precedent,  and  contrary  to  all 
laws  both  ancient  and  modern. 

Wherefore  the  Catholic  Doctors  make 
the  following  distinction,  that  impotence 
caused  by  witchcraft  is  either  temporary 
or  permanent.  And  if  it  is  temporary, 
then  it  does  not  -annul  the  marriage. 
Moreover,  it  is  presumed  to  be  tem¬ 
porary  if  they  are  able  to  be  healed  of 
the  impediment  within  three  years  from 
their  cohabitation,  having  taken  all 
possible  pains,  either  through  the 
sacraments  of  the  Church,  or  through 
other  remedies,  to  be  cured.  But  if  they 
are  not  then  cured  by  any  remedy,  from 
that  time  it  is  presumed  to  be  per¬ 
manent.  And  in  that  case  it  either 
precedes  both  the  contract  and  the  con¬ 
summation  of  marriage,  and  then  it 
prevents  the  contracting  of  a  marriage, 
and  annuls  one  that  is  not  yet  con¬ 
tracted ;  or  else  it  follows  the  contract 
of  marriage  but  precedes  its  consum¬ 
mation,  and  then  also,  according  to 
some,  it  annuls  the  previous  contract. 
(For  it  is  said  in  Book  XXXIII,  quest,  i , 
cap.  i  that  the  confirmation  of  a  marri¬ 
age  consists  in  its  carnal  office.)  Or  else 
it  is  subsequent  to  the  consummation  of 
the  marriage,  and  then  the  matrimonial 
bond  is  not  annulled.  Much  is  noted 
there  concerning  impotence  by  Hostien- 
sis,  and  Godfrey,  and  the  Doctors  and 
Theologians. 

To  the  arguments.  As  to  the  first,  it  is 
made  sufficiently  clear  from  what  has 
been  said.  For  as  to  the  argument  that 
God’s  works  can  be  destroyed  by  the 
devil’s  works,  if  witchcraft  has  power 
against  those  who  are  married,  it  has  no 
force ;  rather  does  the  opposite  appear, 
since  the  devil  can  do  nothing  without 
God’s  permission.  For  he  does  not 
destroy  by  main  force  like  a  tyrant,  but 
through  some  extrinsic  art,  as  is  proved 
above.  And  the  second  argument  is  also 
made  quite  clear,  why  God  allows  this 
obstruction  more  in  the  case  of  the 
venereal  act  that  of  other  acts.  But  the 
devil  has  power  also  over  other  acts, 
when  God  permits.  Wherefore  it  is 
not  sound  to  argue  that  he  could  destroy 
the  whole  world.  And  the  third  objec- 


F 


5® 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  9. 


tion  is  similarly  answered  by  what  has 
been  said. 


QJJESTION  IX 

Whether  Witches  may  work  some  Prestidi- 
gitatory  Illusion  so  that  the  Male  Organ 
appears  to  be  entirely  removed  and 
separate  from  the  Body . 

HERE  is  declared  the  truth  about 
diabolic  operations  with  regard  to 
the  male  organ.  And  to  make  plain 
the  facts  in  this  matter,  it  is  asked 
whether  witches  can  with  the  help  of 
devils  really  and  actually  remove  the 
member,  or  whether  they  only  do  so 
apparently  by  some  glarnour  or 
illusion.  And  that  they  can  actually  do 
so  is  argued  a  fortiori ;  for  since  devils 
can  do  greater  things  than  this,  as 
killing  them  or  carrying  them  from 
place  to  place — as  was  shown  above  in 
the  cases  of  Job  and  Tobias — therefore 
they  can  also  truly  and  actually  remove 
men’s  members. 

Again,  an  argument  is  taken  from  the 
gloss  on  the  visitations  of  bad  Angels, 
in  the  Psalms :  God  punishes  by  means 
of  bad  Angels,  as  He  often  punished  the 
People  of  Israel  with  various  diseases, 
truly  and  actually  visited  upon  their 
bodies.  Therefore  the  member  is 
equally  subject  to  such  visitations. 

It  may  be  said  that  this  is  done  with 
the  Divine  permission.  And  in  that 
case,  as  it  has  already  been  said  that 
God  allows  more  power  of  witchcraft 
over  the  genital  functions,  on  account  of 
the  first  corruption  of  sin  which  came  to 
us  from  the  act  of  generation,  so  also  He 
allows  greater  power  over  the  actual 
genital  organ,  even  to  its  total  removal. 

And  again,  it  was  a  greater  thing  to 
turn  Lot’s  wife  into  a  pillar  of  salt  than 
it  is  to  take  away  the  male  organ ;  and 
that  ( Genesis  xix)  was  a  real  and  actual, 
not  an  apparent,  metamorphosis  (for  it 
is  said  that  that  pillar  is  still  to  be  seen) . 
And  this  was  done  by  a  bad  Angel ;  just 
as  the  good  Angels  struck  the  men  of 
Sodom  with  blindness,  so  that  they 
could  not  find  the  door  of  the  house. 
And  so  it  was  with  the  other  punish¬ 
ments  of  the  men  of  Gomorrah.  The 
gloss,  indeed,  affirms  that  Lot’s  wife  was 
herself  tainted  with  that  vice,  and 
therefore  was  she  punished. 

And  again,  whoever  can  create  a 
natural  shape  can  also  take  it  away. 


But  devils  have  created  many  natural 
shapes,  as  is  clear  from  Pharao’s 
magicians,  who  with  the  help  of  devils 
made  frogs  and  serpents.  Also  S.  Augus¬ 
tine,  in  Book  LXXXIII,  says  that  those 
things  which  are  visibly  done  by  the 
lower  powers  of  the  air  cannot  be  con¬ 
sidered  to  be  mere  illusions ;  but  even 
men  are  able,  by  some  skilful  incision,  to 
remove  the  male  organ ;  therefore  devils 
can  do  invisibly  what  others  do  visibly. 

But  on  the  contrary  side,  S.  Augus¬ 
tine  (de  duitate  Dei ,  XVIII)  says :  It  is 
not  to  be  believed  that,  through  the  art 
or  power  of  devils,  man’s  body  can  be 
changed  into  the  likeness  of  a  beast; 
therefore  it  is  equally  impossible  that 
that  should  be  removed  which  is 
essential  to  the  truth  of  the  human  body. 
Also  he  says  ( de  Trinitate ,  III) :  It  must 
not  be  thought  that  this  substance  of 
visible  matter  is  subject  to  the  will  of 
those  fallen  angels ;  for  it  is  subject  only 
to  God. 

Answer.  There  is  no  doubt  that  cer¬ 
tain  witches  can  do  marvellous  things 
with  regard  to  male  organs,  for  this 
agrees  with  what  has  been  seen  and 
heard  by  many,  and  with  the  general 
account  of  what  has  been  known  con¬ 
cerning  that  member  through  the 
senses  of  sight  and  touch.  And  as  to 
how  this  thing  is  possible,  it  is  to  be  said 
that  it  can  be  done  in  two  ways,  either 
actually  and  in  fact,  as  the  first  argu¬ 
ments  have  said,  or  through  some 
prestige  or  glamour.  But  when  it  is  per¬ 
formed  by  witches,  it  is  only  a  matter  of 
glamour;  although  it  is  no  illusion  in 
the  opinion  of  the  sufferer.  For  his 
imagination  can  really  and  actually 
believe  that  something  is  not  present, 
since  by  none  of  his  exterior  senses, 
such  as  sight  or  touch,  can  he  perceive 
that  it  is  present. 

From  this  it  may  be  said  that  there  is 
a  true  abstraction  of  the  member  in 
imagination,  although  not  in  fact ;  and 
several  things  are  to  be  noted  as  to  how 
this  happens.  And  first  as  to  two 
methods  by  which  it  can  be  done.  It  is 
no  wonder  that  the  devil  can  deceive 
the  outer  human  senses,  since,  as  has 
been  treated  of  above,  he  can  illude  the 
inner  senses,  by  bringing  to  actual  per¬ 
ception  ideas  that  are  stored  in  the 
imagination.  Moreover,  he  deceives 
men  in  their  natural  functions,  causing 
that  which  is  visible  to  be  invisible  to 
them,  and  that  which  is  tangible  to  be 
intangible,  and  the  audible  inaudible, 


Part  I.  Question  9. 


MALEFICARUM 


59 


and  so  with  the  other  senses.  But  such 
things  are  not  true  in  actual  fact,  since 
they  are  caused  through  some  defect 
introduced  in  the  senses,  such  as  the  eyes 
or  the  ears,  or  the  touch,  by  reason  of 
which  defect  a  man’s  judgement  is 
deceived. 

And  we  can  illustrate  this  from  cer¬ 
tain  natural  phenomena.  For  sweet 
wine  appears  bitter  on  the  tongue  of  the 
fevered,  his  taste  being  deceived  not  by 
the  actual  fact,  but  through  his  disease. 
So  also  in  the  case  under  consideration, 
the  deception  is  not  due  to  fact,  since 
the  member  is  still  actually  in  its  place ; 
but  it  is  an  illusion  of  the  senses  with 
regard  to  it. 

Again,  as  has  been  said  above  con¬ 
cerning  the  generative  powers,  the 
devil  can  obstruct  that  action  by  im-? 
posing  some  other  body  of  the  same 
colour  and  appearance,  in  such  a  way 
that  some  smoothly  fashioned  body  in 
the  colour  of  flesh  is  interposed  between 
the  sight  and  touch,  and  between  the 
true  body  of  the  sufferer,  so  that  it 
seems  to  him  that  he  can  see  and  feel 
nothing  but  a  smooth  body  with  its  sur¬ 
face  interrupted  by  no  genital  organ. 
See  the  sayings  of  S.  Thomas  (2  dis't.  8. 
artic.  5)  concerning  glamours  and 
illusions,  and  also  in  the  second  of  the 
second,  91,  and  in  his  questions  concern¬ 
ing  Sin ;  where  he  frequently  quotes  that 
of  S.  Augustine  in  BookLXXXIII :  This 
evil  of  the  devil  creeps  in  through  all  the 
sensual  approaches ;  he  gives  himself  to 
figures,  he  adapts  himself  to  colours,  he 
abides  in  sounds,  he  lurks  in  smells,  he 
infuses  himself  into  flavours. 

Besides,  it  is  to  be  considered  that 
such  an  illusion  of  the  sight  and  touch 
can  be  caused  not  only  by  the  inter¬ 
position  of  some  smooth  unmembered 
body,  but  also  by  the  summoning  to  the 
fancy  or  imagination  of  certain  forms 
and  ideas  latent  in  the  mind,  in  such  a 
way  that  a  thing  is  imagined  as  being 
perceived  then  for  the  first  time.  For, 
as  was  shown  in  the  preceding  question, 
devils  can  by  their  own  power  change 
bodies  locally;  and  just  as  the  dis¬ 
position  or  humour  can  be  affected  in 
this  way,  so  can  the  natural  functions. 

I  speak  of  things  which  appear  natural 
to  the  imagination  or  senses.  For  Aris¬ 
totle  in  the  de  Somno  et  Uigilia  says, 
assigning  the  cause  of  apparitions  in 
dreams,  that  when  an  animal  sleeps 
much  blood  flows  to  the  inner  con¬ 
sciousness,  and  thence  come  ideas  or 


impressions  derived  from  actual  pre¬ 
vious  experiences  stored  in  the  mind. 
It  has  already  been  defined  how  thus 
certain  appearances  convey  the  im¬ 
pression  of  new  experiences.  And  since 
this  can  happen  naturally,  much  more 
can  the  devil  call  to  the  imagination 
the  appearance  of  a  smooth  body  un¬ 
provided  with  the  virile  member,  in 
such  a  way  that  the  senses  believe  it  to 
be  an  actual  fact. 

Secondly,  some  other  methods  are  to 
be  noted  which  are  easier  to  understand 
and  to  explain.  For,  according  to  S. 
Isidore  {Etym.  VIII,  9),  a  glamour  is 
nothing  but  a  certain  delusion  of  the 
senses,  and  especially  of  the  eyes.  And 
for  this  reason  it  is  also  called  a  prestige, 
from  prestringo,  since  the  sight  of  the  eyes 
is  so  fettered  that  things  seem  to  be 
other  than  they  are.  And  Alexander  of 
Hales,*  Part  2,  says  that  a  prestige, 
properly  understood,  is  an  illusion  of 
the  devil,  which  is  not  caused  by  any 
change  in  matter,  but  only  exists  in  the 
mind  of  him  who  is  deluded,  either  as  to 
his  inner  or  outer  perceptions. 

Wherefore,  in  a  manner  of  speaking, 
we  may  say  even  of  human  prestidigi- 
tatory  art,  that  it  can  be  effected  in 
three  ways.  Forthe  first,  it  can  be  done 
without  devils,  since  it  is  artificially  done 
by  the  agility  of  men  who  show  things 
and  conceal  them,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
tricks  of  conjurers  or  ventriloquists. 
The  second  method  is  also  without  the 
help  of  devils;  as  when  men  can  use 
some  natural  virtue  in  natural  bodies  or 
minerals  so  as  to  impart  to  such  objects 
some  other  appearance  quite  different 
from  their  true  appearance.  Wherefore, 
according  to  S.  Thomas  (I,  1 14,  4),  and 
several  others,  men,  by  the  smoke  of 
certain  smouldering  or  lighted  herbs, 
can  make  rods  appear  to  be  serpents. 

The  third  method  of  delusion  is 
effected  with  the  help  of  devils,  the  per- 

*  “Alexander .”  Alexander  of  Hales ,  the 
Franciscan  theologian  and  philosopher ,  Doctor 
Irrefragabilis ,  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  the 
scholastics.  He  was  born  at  Hales ,  or  Hailles ,  in 
Gloucestershire  towards  the  end  of  the  twelfth 
century ,  and  died  at  Paris  at  the  convent  of  his 
Order  in  1245.  Elis  principal  work  is  the 
“ Summa  Uniuersae  Theologiae ,”  begun  about 
the  year  1231,  and  left  unfinished.  It  has  several 
times  been  published:  Venice ,  /475,  1576; 
Kurembnrg,  1481,  1302;  Pavia ,  1481;  Cologne , 
1622.  A  critical  edition ,  which  is  much  needed , 
has  been  promised  by  the  Quaracchi  editors  of  the 
works  of  S.  Bonaventura. 


6o 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  9. 


mission  of  God  being  granted.  For  it 
is  clear  that  devils  have,  of  their  nature, 
some  power  over  certain  earthly 
matters,  which  they  exercise  upon 
them,  when  God  permits,  so  that  things 
appear  to  be  other  than  they  are. 

And  as  to  this  third  method,  it  is  to 
be  noted  that  the  devil  has  five  ways 
in  which  he  can  delude  anyone  so  that 
he  thinks  a  thing  to  be  other  than  it  is. 
First,  by  an  artificial  trick,  as  has  been 
said;  for  that  which  a  man  can  do 
by  art,  the  devil  can  do  even  better. 
Second,  by  a  natural  method,  by  the 
application,  as  has  been  said,  and  inter¬ 
position  of  some  substance  so  as  to  hide 
the  true  body,  or  by  confusing  it  in 
man’s  fancy.  The  third  way  is  when  in 
an  assumed  body  he  presents  himself  as 
being  something  which  he  is  not;  as 
witness  the  story  which  S.  Gregory  tells 
in  his  First  Dialogue  of  a  Nun,  who  ate 
a  lettuce,  which,  however,  as  the  devil 
himself  confessed,  was  not  a  lettuce,  but 
the  devil  in  the  form  of  a  lettuce,  or  in 
the  lettuce  itself.  Or  as  when  he  ap¬ 
peared  to  S.  Antony  in  a  lump  of  gold 
which  he  found  in  the  desert.  Or  as 
when  he  touches  a  real  man,  and  makes 
him  appear  like  a  brute  animal,  as 
will  shortly  be  explained.  The  fourth 
method  is  when  he  confuses  the  organ 
of  sight,  so  that  a  clear  thing  seems  hazy, 
or  the  converse,  or  when  an  old  woman 
appears  to  be  a  young  girl.  For  even 
after  weeping  the  light  appears  different 
from  what  it  was  before.  His  fifth 
method  is  by  working  in  the  imagina¬ 
tive  power,  and,  by  a  disturbance  of  the 
humours,  effecting  a  transmutation  in 
the  forms  perceived  by  the  senses,  as 
has  been  treated  of  before,  so  that  the 
senses  then  perceive  as  it  were  fresh 
and  new  images.  And  accordingly,  by 
the  last  three  of  these  methods,  and 
even  by  the  second,  the  devil  can  cast 
a  glamour  over  the  senses  of  a  man. 
Wherefore  there  is  no  difficulty  in  his 
concealing  the  virile  member  by  some 
prestige  or  glamour.  And  a  manifest 
proof  or  example  of  this,  which  was 
revealed  to  us  in  our  Inquisitorial  capa¬ 
city,  will  be  set  forth  later,  where  more 
is  recounted  of  these  and  other  matters 
in  the  Second  Part  of  this  Treatise. 

How  a  Bewitchment  can  he  Distinguished 
from  a  Natural  Defect. 

An  incidental  question,  with  certain 
other  difficulties,  follows.  Peter’s 


member  has  been  taken  off,  and  he  does 
not  know  whether  it  is  by  witchcraft  or 
in  some  other  way  by  the  devil’s  power, 
with  the  permission  of  God.  Are  there 
any  ways  of  determining  or  distinguish¬ 
ing  between  these?  It  can  be  answered 
as  follows.  First,  that  those  to  whom 
such  things  most  commonly  happen  are 
adulterers  or  fornicators.  For  when  they 
fail  to  respond  to  the  demand  of  their 
mistress,  or  if  they  wish  to  desert  them 
and  attach  themselves  to  other  women, 
then  their  mistress,  out  of  vengeance, 
causes  such  a  thing  to  happen,  or 
through  some  other  power  causes  their 
members  to  be  taken  off.  Secondly,  it  can 
be  distinguished  by  the  fact  that  it  is  not 
permanent.  For  if  it  is  not  due  to  witch¬ 
craft,  then  the  loss  is  not  permanent, 
but  it  will  be  restored  some  time. 

But  here  there  arises  another  doubt, 
whether  it  is  due  to  the  nature  of  the 
witchcraft  that  it  is  not  permanent.  It 
is  answered  that  it  can  be  permanent, 
and  last  until  death,  just  as  the  Canon¬ 
ists  and  Theologians  judge  concerning 
the  impediment  of  witchcraft  in  matri¬ 
mony,  that  the  temporary  can  become 
permanent.  For  Godfrey  says  in  his 
Summa :  A  bewitchment  cannot  always 
be  removed  by  him  who  caused  it, 
either  because  he  is  dead,  or  because  he 
does  not  know  how  to  remove  it,  or  be¬ 
cause  the  charm  has  been  lost.  Where¬ 
fore  we  may  say  in  the  same  way  that 
the  charm  which  has  been  worked  on 
Peter  will  be  permanent  if  the  witch 
who  did  it  cannot  heal  him. 

For  there  are  three  degrees  of  witches. 
For  some  both  heal  and  harm;  some 
harm,  but  cannot  heal ;  and  some  seem 
able  only  to  heal,  that  is,  to  take  away 
injuries,  as  will  be  shown  later.  For 
thus  it  happened  to  us  :  Two  witches 
were  quarrelling,  and  while  they  were 
taunting  each  other  one  said :  I  am  not 
so  wicked  as  you,  for  I  know  how  to 
heal  those  whom  I  injure.  The  charm 
will  also  be  permanent  if,  before  it  has 
been  healed,  the  witch  departs,  either 
by  changing  her  dwelling  or  by  dying. 
For  S.  Thomas  also  says:  Any  charm 
may  be  permanent  when  it  is  such  sis 
can  have  no  human  remedy;  or  if  it 
has  a  remedy,  it  is  not  known  to  men, 
or  unlawful ;  although  God  can  find  a 
remedy  through  a  holy  Angel  who  can 
coerce  the  devil,  if  not  the  witch. 

However,  the  chief  remedy  against 
witchcraft  is  the  sacrament  of  Peni¬ 
tence.  For  bodily  infirmity  often  pro- 


Part  I.  Question  io.  MALEFICARUM 


61 


ceeds  from  sin.  And  how  the  charms 
of  witches  can  be  removed  will  be 
shown  in  the  Second  Part  of  this 
Treatise,  and  in  the  Second  Question, 
chapter  VI,  where  other  different 
matters  are  treated  of  and  explained. 

Solutions  of  the  Arguments. 

For  the  first,  it  is  clear  that  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that,  just  as,  with  God’s 
permission,  they  can  kill  men,  so  also 
can  devils  take  off  that  member,  as  well 
as  others,  truly  and  actually.  But  then 
the  devils  do  not  work  through  the 
medium  of  witches,  concerning  which 
mention  has  already  been  made.  And 
from  this  the  answer  to  the  second 
argument  is  also  made  clear.  But  this  is 
to  be  said :  that  God  allows  more  power 
of  witchcraft  over  the  genital  forces  be¬ 
cause,  etc. ;  and  therefore  even  allows 
that  that  member  should  be  truly  and 
actually  taken  off.  But  it  is  not  valid 
to  say  that  this  always  happens.  For  it 
would  not  be  after  the  manner  of 
witchcraft  for  it  to  happen  so;  and 
even  the  witches,  when  they  do  such 
works,  do  not  pretend  that  they  have 
not  the  power  to  restore  the  member 
when  they  wish  to  and  know  how  to  do 
so.  From  which  it  is  clear  that  it  is  not 
actually  taken  off,  but  only  by  a 
glamour.  As  for  the  third,  concerning 
the  metamorphosis  of  Lot’s  wife,  we 
say  that  this  was  actual,  and  not  a 
glamour.  And  as  to  the  fourth,  that 
devils  can  create  certain  substantial 
shapes,  and  therefore  can  also  remove 
them :  it  is  to  be  said  with  regard  to 
Pharaoh’s  magicians  that  they  made 
true  serpents ;  and  that  devils  can,  with 
the  help  of  another  agent,  produce 
certain  effects  on  imperfect  creatures 
which  they  cannot  on  men,  who  are 
God’s  chief  care.  For  it  is  said :  Does 
God  care  for  oxen?  They  can,  never¬ 
theless,  with  the  permission  of  God,  do 
to  men  true  and  actual  harm,  as  also  they 
can  create  a  glamour  of  harm,  and  by 
this  the  answer  to  the  last  argument  is 
made  clear. 

☆ 

QUESTION  X 

Whether  Witches  can  by  some  Glamour 
Change  Men  into  Beasts. 

HERE  we  declare  the  truth  as  to 
whether  and  how  witches  trans¬ 
form  men  into  beasts.  And  it  is  argued 


that  this  is  not  possible,  from  the  follow¬ 
ing  passage  of  Episcopus  (XXVI,  5) : 
Whoever  believes  that  it  is  possible  for 
any  creature  to  be  changed  for  the 
better  or  for  the  worse,  or  to  be 
transformed  into  any  other  shape  or 
likeness,  except  by  the  Creator  Him¬ 
self,  Who  made  all  things,  and  by 
Whom  all  things  are  created,  is  without 
doubt  an  infidel,  and  worse  than  a 
pagan. 

And  we  will  quote  the  arguments  of 
S.  Thomas  in  the  2nd  Book  of  Sen¬ 
tences,  VIII :  Whether  devils  can  affect 
the  bodily  senses  by  the  delusion  of  a 
glamour.  There  he  argues  first  that 
they  cannot.  For  though  that  shape  of  a 
beast  which  is  seen  must  be  somewhere, 
it  cannot  exist  only  in  the  senses;  for 
the  senses  perceive  no  shape  that  is  not 
received  from  actual  matter,  and  there  is 
no  actual  beast  there;  and  he  adduces 
the  authority  of  the  Canon.  And  again, 
that  which  seems  to  be,  cannot  really  be; 
as  in  the  case  of  a  woman  who  seems  to 
be  a  beast,  for  two  substantial  shapes 
cannot  exist  at  one  and  the  same  time 
in  the  same  matter.  Therefore,  since 
that  shape  of  a  beast  which  appears 
cannot  exist  anywhere,  no  glamour  or 
illusion  can  exist  in  the  eye  of  the  be¬ 
holder;  for  the  sight  must  have  some 
object  in  which  it  terminates. 

And  if  it  is  argued  that  the  shape 
exists  in  the  surrounding  atmosphere, 
this  is  not  possible;  both  because  the 
atmosphere  is  not  capable  of  taking  any 
shape  or  form,  and  also  because  the 
air  around  that  person  is  not  always 
constant,  and  cannot  be  so  on  account 
of  its  fluid  nature,  especially  when  it 
is  moved.  And  again  because  in  that 
case  such  a  transformation  would  be 
visible  to  everyone;  but  this  is  not  so, 
because  the  devils  seem  to  be  unable  to 
deceive  the  sight  of  Holy  Men  in  the 
least. 

Besides,  the  sense  of  sight,  or  the 
faculty  of  vision,  is  a  passive  faculty,  and 
every  passive  faculty  is  set  in  motion 
by  the  active  agent  that  corresponds  to 
it.  Now  the  active  agent  corresponding 
to  sight  is  twofold :  one  is  the  origin  of 
the  act,  or  the  object;  the  other  is  the 
carrier,  or  medium.  But  that  apparent 
shape  cannot  be  the  object  of  the  sense, 
neither  can  it  be  the  medium  through 
which  it  is  carried.  First,  it  cannot  be 
the  object,  since  it  cannot  be  taken  hold 
of  by  anything,  as  was  shown  in  the 
foregoing  argument,  since  it  does  not 


62 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  io. 


exist  in  the  senses  received  from  an 
object,  neither  is  it  in  the  actual  object, 
nor  even  in  the  air,  as  in  a  carrying 
medium,  as  was  treated  of  above  in  the 
third  argument. 

Besides,  if  the  devil  moves  the  inner 
consciousness,  he  does  so  either  by  pro¬ 
jecting  himself  into  the  cognitive  faculty, 
or  by  changing  it.  But  he  does  not  do 
so  by  projecting  himself;  for  he  would 
either  have  to  assume  a  body,  and  even 
so  could  not  penetrate  into  the  inner 
organ  of  imagination;  for  two  bodies 
cannot  be  at  the  same  time  in  the  same 
place ;  or  he  would  assume  a  phantas¬ 
mal  body;  and  this  again  would  be 
impossible,  since  no  phantasm  is  quite 
without  substance. 

Similarly  also  he  cannot  do  it  by 
changing  the  cognition.  For  he  would 
either  change  it  by  alteration,  which 
he  does  not  seem  able  to  do,  since  all 
alteration  is  caused  by  active  qualities, 
in  which  the  devils  are  lacking;  or  he 
would  change  it  by  transformation  or 
local  motion;  and  this  does  not  seem 
feasible  for  two  reasons.  First,  because 
a  transformation  of  an  organ  cannot 
be  effected  without  a  sense  of  pain. 
Secondly,  because  in  this  case  the  devil 
would  only  make  things  of  a  known 
shape  appear;  but  S.  Augustine  says 
that  he  creates  shapes  of  this  sort,  both 
known  and  unknown.  Therefore  it 
seems  that  the  devils  can  in  no  way 
deceive  the  imagination  or  senses  of  a 
man. 

But  against  this,  S.  Augustine  says  {de 
Ciuitate  Dei,  XVIII)  that  the  transmuta¬ 
tions  of  men  into  brute  animals,  said  to 
be  done  by  the  art  of  devils,  are  not  actual 
but  only  apparent.  But  this  would  not 
be  possible  if  devils  were  not  able  to 
transmute  the  human  senses.  The 
authority  of  S.  Augustine  is  again  to 
the  point  in  Book  LXXXIII,  which  has 
already  been  quoted :  This  evil  of  the 
devil  creeps  in  through  all  the  sensual 
approaches,  etc. 

Answer.  If  the  reader  wishes  to  refer 
to  the  method  of  transmutation,  he  will 
find  in  the  Second  Part  of  this  work, 
chapter  VI,  various  methods.  But  pro¬ 
ceeding  for  the  present  in  a  scholastic 
manner,  let  us  say  in  agreement  with 
the  opinions  of  the  three  Doctors,  that  the 
devil  can  deceive  the  human  fancy  so 
that  a  man  really  sefcms  to  be  an  animal. 
The  last  of  those  opinions,  which  is  that 
of  S.  Thomas,  is  more  subtle  than 
the  rest.  But  the  first  is  that  of  S. 


Antoninus  *  in  the  first  part  of  his 
Summa ,  V,  5,  where  he  declares  that 
the  devil  at  times  works  to  deceive  a 
man’s  fancy,  especially  by  an  illusion 
of  the  senses;  and  he  proves  this  by 
natural  reasoning,  by  the  authority  of 
the  Canon,  and  by  a  great  number  of 
examples. 

And  at  first  as  follows:  Our  bodies 
naturally  are  subject  to  and  obey  the 
angelic  nature  as  regards  local  motion. 
But  the  bad  angels,  although  they  have 
lost  grace,  have  not  lost  their  natural 
power,  as  has  often  been  said  before. 
And  since  the  faculty  of  fancy  or 
imagination  is  corporeal,  that  is,  allied 
to  a  physical  organ,  it  also  is  naturally 
subject  to  devils,  so  that  they  can  trans¬ 
mute  it,  causing  various  phantasies,  by 
the  flow  of  the  thoughts  and  percep¬ 
tions  to  the  original  image  received  by 
them.  So  says  S.  Antoninus,  and  adds 
that  it  is  proved  by  the  following  Canon 
(. Episcopus ,  XXVI,  5) :  It  must  not  be  j 
omitted  that  certain  wicked  women, 
perverted  by  Satan  and  seduced  by  the 
illusions  and  phantasms  of  devils,  be¬ 
lieve  and  profess  that  they  ride  in  the 
night  hours  on  certain  beasts  with 
Diana,  the  heathen  goddess,  or  with 
Herodias,  and  with  a  countless  number 
of  women,  and  that  in  the  untimely 
silence  of  night  they  travel  over  great 
distances  of  land.  And  later :  Wherefore 
priests  ought  to  preach  to  the  people  of  , 
God  that  they  should  know  this  to  be 
altogether  false,  and  that  when  such  1 

*  “S.  Antoninus .”  The  famous  Dominican 
Archbishop  of  Florence,  born  at  Florence,  1 
March ,  1389;  died  2  May,  1459.  His  feast  day 
is  10  May.  His  chief  literary  work  is  the 
“Summa  Theologica  Moralis ,  partibus  IV 
distincta ,”  written  shortly  before  his  death ,  and 
marking  a  very  considerable  development  in 
moral  theology.  Crohns  in  his  t(Die  Summa 
theologica  des  Antonin  von  Florenz  und  die 
Schatzung  des  Weibes  im  Hexenhammer ,” 
Helsingfors,  1903,  has  set  out  to  show  that  the 
very  pronounced  misogyny  which  is  apparent  in  the 
“ Malleus  Maleficarum ”  can  be  traced  to  the 
“Summa”  of  S.  Antoninus.  But  Paulus,  “Die 
Verachtung  der  Frau  beim  hi.  Antonin ,”  in 
“Historisch-Politische  Blatter ,”  1904,  pp.  812- 
go,  has  severely  criticized  this  thesis,  which  he 
declares  to  be  untenable. 

Within  fifty  years  after  the  first  appearance  of 
the  “Summa”  of  S.  Antoninus,  fifteen  editions 
were  printed  at  various  important  centres  of 
learning.  Many  other  editions  followed,  and  in 
1740  it  was  issued  at  Verona  in  four  volumes , 
folio,  edited  by  P.  Ballerini;  in  1741  at  Florence 
by  two  Dominicans,  Mamachi  and  Remedelli. 


Part  I.  Question  io. 


MALEFICARUM 


63 


phantasms  afflict  the  minds  of  the 
faithful,  it  is  not  of  God,  but  of  an  evil 
spirit.  For  Satan  himself  transforms 
himself  into  the  shape  and  likeness 
of  different  persons,  and  in  dreams 
deluding  the  mind  which  he  holds 
captive,  leads  it  through  devious  ways. 

Indeed  the  meaning  of  this  Canon 
has  been  treated  of  in  the  First  Question, 
as  to  the  four  things  which  are  to  be 
preached.  But  it  would  be  to  misunder¬ 
stand  its  meaning  to  maintain  that 
witches  cannot  be  so  transported,  when 
they  wish  and  God  does  not  prevent  it ; 
for  very  often  men  who  are  not  witches 
are  unwillingly  transported  bodily  over 
great  distances  of  land. 

But  that  these  transmutations  can  be 
effected  in  both  ways  will  be  shown  by 
the  aforesaid  Summa ,  and  in  the  chapter 
where  S.  Augustine  relates  that  it  is 
read  in  the  books  of  the  Gentiles  that  a 
certain  sorceress  named  Circe  changed 
the  companions  of  Ulysses  into  beasts ; 
but  that  this  was  due  to  some  glamour 
or  illusion,  rather  than  an  actual 
accomplishment,  by  altering  the  fancies 
of  men ;  and  this  is  clearly  proved  by 
several  examples. 

For  we  read  in  the  Lives  of  the  Fathers , 
that  a  certain  girl  would  not  consent  to 
a  young  man  who  was  begging  her  to 
commit  a  shameful  act  with  him.  And 
the  young  man,  being  angry  because  of 
this,  caused  a  certain  Jew  to  work  a 
charm  against  her,  by  which  she  was 
changed  into  a  filly.  But  this  meta¬ 
morphosis  was  not  an  actual  fact,  but  an 
illusion  of  the  devil,  who  changed  the 
fancy  and  senses  of  the  girl  herself,  and 
of  those  who  looked  at  her,  so  that  she 
seemed  to  be  a  filly,  who  was  really  a 
girl.  For  when  she  was  led  to  the 
Blessed  Macarius,  the  devil  could  not  so 
work  as  to  deceive  his  senses  as  he  had 
those  of  other  people,  on  account  of  his 
sanctity ;  for  to  him  she  seemed  a  true 
girl,  not  a  filly.  And  at  length  by  his 
prayer  she  was  set  free  from  that 
illusion,  and  it  is  said  that  this  had 
happened  to  her  because  she  did  not 
give  her  mind  to  holy  things,  or  attend 
the  Sacraments  as  she  ought ;  therefore 
the  devil  had  power  over  her,  although 
she  was  in  other  respects  honest. 

Therefore  the  devil  can,  by  moving 
the  inner  perceptions  and  humours, 
effect  changes  in  the  actions  and 
faculties,  physical,  mental,  and 
emotional,  working  by  means  of  any 
physical  organ  soever ;  and  this  accords 


with  S.  Thomas,  I,  91.  And  of  this  sort 
we  may  believe  to  have  been  the  acts 
of  Simon  Magus  in  the  incantations 
which  are  narrated  of  him.  But  the 
devil  can  do  none  of  these  things  with¬ 
out  the  permission  of  God,  Who  with 
His  good  Angels  often  restrains  the 
wickedness  of  him  who  seeks  to  deceive 
and  hurt  us.  Wherefore  S.  Augustine, 
speaking  of  witches,  says:  These  are 
they  who,  with  the  permission  of  God, 
stir  up  the  elements,  and  confuse  the 
minds  of  those  who  do  not  trust  in 
God  (XXVI,  5). 

Also  devils  can  by  witchcraft  cause  a 
man  to  be  unable  to  see  his  wife  rightly, 
and  the  converse.  And  this  comes  from 
an  affectation  of  the  fancy,  so  that  she  is 
represented  to  him  as  an  odious  and 
horrible  thing.  The  devil  also  suggests 
representations  of  loathsome  things 
to  the  fancy  of  both  the  waking  and 
the  sleeping,  to  deceive  them  and  lead 
them  to  sin.  But  because  sin  does  not 
consist  in  the  imagination  but  in  the 
will,  therefore  man  does  not  sin  in  these 
fancies  suggested  by  the  devil,  and 
these  various  transformations,  unless  of 
his  own  will  he  consents  to  sin. 

The  second  opinion  of  the  modern 
Doctors  is  to  the  same  effect,  when  they 
declare  what  is  glamour,  and  in  how 
many  ways  the  devil  can  cause  such 
illusions.  Here  we  refer  to  what  has 
already  been  said  concerning  the  argu¬ 
ments  of  S.  Antoninus,  which  there  is 
no  need  to  repeat. 

The  third  opinion  is  that  of  S.  Thomas, 
and  is  an  answer  to  the  argument  where 
it  is  asked,  Wherein  lies  the  existence 
of  the  shape  of  a  beast  that  is  seen ;  in 
the  senses,  or  in  reality,  or  in  the  sur¬ 
rounding  air  ?  And  his  opinion  is  that 
the  apparent  shape  of  a  beast  only  exists 
in  the  inner  perception,  which,  through 
the  force  of  imagination,  sees  it  in  some 
way  as  an  exterior  object.  And  the 
devil  has  two  ways  of  effecting  such  a 
result. 

In  one  way  we  may  say  that  the  forms 
of  animals  which  are  conserved  in  the 
treasury  of  the  imagination  pass  by  the 
operation  of  the  devil  into  the  organs  of 
inner  senses ;  and  in  this  way  it  happens 
in  dreams,  as  has  been  declared  above. 
And  so,  when  these  forms  are  impressed 
on  the  organs  of  the  outer  senses,  such  as 
sight,  they  appear  as  if  they  were 
present  as  outer  objects,  and  could 
actually  be  touched. 

The  other  way  results  from  a  change 


64 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  io. 


in  the  inner  organs  of  perception, 
through  which  the  judgement  is  de¬ 
ceived  ;  as  is  shown  in  the  case  of  him 
who  has  his  taste  corrupted,  so  that 
everything  sweet  seems  bitter ;  and  this 
is  not  very  different  from  the  first 
method.  Moreover,  even  men  can 
accomplish  this  by  the  virtue  of  certain 
natural  things,  as  when  in  the  vapour  of 
a  certain  smoke  the  beams  of  a  house 
appear  to  be  serpents ;  and  many  other 
instances  of  this  are  found,  as  has  been 
mentioned  above. 

\ 

Solutions  of  the  Arguments. 

As  to  the  first  argument,  that  text  is 
often  quoted,  but  is  badly  understood. 
For  as  to  where  it  speaks  of  transforma¬ 
tion  into  another  shape  or  likeness,  it 
has  been  made  clear  how  this  can  be 
done  by  prestidigitatory  art.  And  as  to 
where  it  says  that  no  creature  can  be 
made  by  the  power  of  the  devil,  this  is 
manifestly  true  if  Made  is  understood 
to  mean  Created.  But  if  the  word  Made 
is  taken  to  refer  to  natural  production,  it 
is  certain  that  devils  can  make  some 
imperfect  creatures.  And  S.  Thomas 
shows  how  this  may  be  done.  For  he 
says  that  all  transmutations  of  bodily 
matters  which  can  be  effected  by  the 
forces  of  nature,  in  which  the  essential 
thing  is  the  semen  which  is  found  in  the 
elements  of  this  world,  on  land  or  in 
the  waters  (as  serpents  and  frogs  and 
such  things  deposit  their  semen),  can 
be  effected  by  the  work  of  devils  who 
have  acquired  such  semen.  So  also  it  is 
when  anything  is  changed  into  serpents 
or  frogs,  which  can  be  generated  by 
putrefaction. 

But  those  transmutations  of  bodily 
matters  which  cannot  be  effected  by  the 
forces  of  nature  can  in  no  way  be  truly 
effected  by  the  work  of  the  devils.  For 
when  the  body  of  a  man  is  changed  into 
the  body  of  a  beast,  or  a  dead  body  is 
brought  to  life,  such  things  only  seem  to 
happen,  and  are  a  glamour  or  illusion ; 
or  else  the  devil  appears  before  men  in 
an  assumed  body. 

These  arguments  are  substantiated. 
For  Blessed  Albertus  in  his  book  On 
Animals ,  where  he  examines  whether 
devils,  or  let  us  even  say  witches,  can 
really  make  animals,  says  that  they  can, 
with  God’s  permission,  make  imperfect 
animals.  But  they  cannot  do  so  in  an 
instant,  as  God  does,  but  by  means  of 
some  motion,  however  sudden,  as  is  clear 


in  the  case  of  witches.  And  touching 
the  passage  in  Exodus  vii,  where  Pharao 
called  his  wise  men,  he  says :  The  devils 
run  throughout  the  world  and  collect 
various  germs,  and  by  using  them  can 
evolve  various  species.  And  the  gloss 
thereon  says :  When  witches  attempt  to 
effect  anything  by  the  invocation  of 
devils,  they  run  about  the  world  and 
bring  the  semen  of  those  things  which 
are  in  question,  and  by  its  means,  with 
the  permission  of  God,  they  produce 
new  species.  But  this  has  been  spoken  of 
above. 

Another  difficulty  may  arise,  whether 
such  devils*  works  are  to  be  deemed 
miraculous.  The  answer  was  made  clear 
in  the  preceding  arguments,  that  even 
the  devils  can  perform  certain  miracles 
to  which  their  natural  powers  are 
adapted.  And  although  such  things  are 
true  in  fact,  they  are  not  done  with  a  view 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth ;  and  in 
this  sense  the  works  of  Antichrist  may  be 
said  to  be  deceptions,  since  they  are 
done  with  a  view  to  the  seduction  of 
men. 

The  answer  to  the  other  argument, 
that  concerning  the  shape,  is  also  clear. 
The  shape  of  a  beast  which  is  seen  does 
not  exist  in  the  air,  or  in  actual  fact,  as 
has  been  shown,  but  only  in  the  per¬ 
ception  of  the  senses,  as  has  been 
demonstrated  above  from  the  opinion  of 
S.  Thomas. 

For  the  argument  that  every  passive 
is  set  in  motion  by  its  corresponding 
active,  this  is  granted.  But  when  it  is 
inferred  that  the  shape  which  is  seen 
cannot  be  the  original  object  which  sets 
in  motion  the  act  of  sight,  since  it  arises 
from  none  of  the  senses,  it  is  answered 
that  it  does  not  arise,  since  it  originates 
from  some  sensible  image  conserved  in 
the  imagination,  which  the  devil  can 
draw  out  and  present  to  the  imagina¬ 
tion  or  powers  of  perception,  as  has  been 
said  above. 

For  the  last  argument,  it  is  to  be  said 
that  the  devil  does  not,  as  has  been 
shown,  change  the  perceptive  and 
imaginative  powers  by  projecting  him¬ 
self  into  them,  but  by  transmuting 
them;  not  indeed  by  altering  them, 
except  in  respect  of  local  motion.  For 
he  cannot  of  himself  induce  new  appear¬ 
ances,  as  has  been  said.  But  he  changes 
them  by  transmutation,  that  is,  local 
motion.  And  this  again  he  does,  not 
by  dividing  the  substance  of  the  organ  of 
perception,  since  that  would  result  in  a 


65 


Part  I.  Question  io.  MALEFICARUM 


sense  of  pain,  but  by  a  movement  of  the 
perceptions  and  humours. 

But  it  may  be  further  objected  as 
follows :  that  according  to  this  the  devil 
cannot  present  to  a  man  the  appearance 
of  anything  new  in  respect  of  things 
seen.  It  is  to  be  said  that  a  new  thing 
can  be  understood  in  two  ways.  In  one 
way  it  may  be  entirely  new  both  in  it¬ 
self  and  in  its  beginnings ;  and  in  this 
sense  the  devil  cannot  present  anything 
new  to  a  man’s  sense  of  vision:  for  he 
cannot  cause  one  who  is  born  blind 
to  imagine  colours,  or  a  deaf  man  to 
imagine  sounds.  In  another  sense,  a 
thing  may  be  new  as  to  the  composition 
of  its  whole ;  as  we  may  say  that  it  is 
an  imaginatively  new  thing  if  a  man 
imagines  that  he  sees  mountains  of  gold, 
which  he  never  saw;  for  he  has  seen 
gold,  and  he  has  seen  a  mountain,  and 
can  by  some  natural  operation  imagine 
the  phantasm  of  a  mountain  of  gold. 
And  in  this  way  the  devil  can  present  a 
new  thing  to  the  imagination. 

What  is  to  be  Thought  of  Wolves  which 
sometimes  Seize  and  Eat  Men  and 
Children  out  of  their  Cradles  :  whether 
this  also  is  a  Glamour  caused  by  Witches. 

There  is  incidentally  a  question  con¬ 
cerning  wolves,  which  sometimes  snatch 
men  and  children  out  of  their  houses 
and  eat  them,  and  run  about  with  such 
astuteness  that  by  no  skill  or  strength 
can  they  be  hurt  or  captured.  It  is  to  be 
said  that  this  sometimes  has  a  natural 
cause,  but  is  sometimes  due  to  a 
glamour,  when  it  is  effected  by  witches. 
And  as  to  the  first,  Blessed  Albertus  in 
his  book  On  Animals  says  that  it  can  arise 
from  five  causes.  Sometimes  on  account 
of  great  famine,  when  stags  and  other 
beasts  have  come  near  to  men.  Some¬ 
times  on  account  of  the  fierceness  of 
their  strength,  as  in  the  case  of  dogs  in 
cold  regions.  But  this  is  nothing  to  the 
point ;  and  we  say  that  such  things  are 
caused  by  an  illusion  of  devils,  when 
God  punishes  some  nation  for  sin.  See 
Leviticus  xxvi:  If  ye  do  not  my  com¬ 
mandments,  I  will  send  the  beasts  of 
the  field  against  you,  who  shall  con¬ 
sume  you  and  your  flocks.  And  again 
Deuteronomy  xxxii :  I  will  also  send  the 
teeth  of  beasts  upon  them,  etc. 

As  to  the  question  whether  they  are 
true  wolves,  or  devils  appearing  in  that 
shape,  we  say  that  they  are  true  wolyes, 
but  are  possessed  by  devils;  and  they 


are  so  roused  up  in  two  ways.  It 
may  happen  without  the  operation  of 
witches :  and  so  it  was  in  the  case  of  the 
two-and-forty  boys  who  were  devoured 
by  two  bears  coming  out  of  the  woods, 
because  they  mocked  the  prophet 
Elisaus,  saying,  Go  up,  thou  bald  head, 
etc.  Also  in  the  case  of  the  lion  which 
slew  the  prophet  who  would  not  per¬ 
form  the  commandment  of  God  (III. 
Kings  xiii).  And  it  is  told  that  a  Bishop 
of  Vienna  ordered  the  minor  Litanies 
to  be  solemnly  chanted  on  certain  days 
before  the  Feast  of  the  Ascension,  be¬ 
cause  wolves  were  entering  the  city 
and  publicly  devouring  men. 

But  in  another  way  it  may  be  an 
illusion  caused  by  witches.  For  William 
of  Paris  tells  of  a  certain  man  who 
thought  that  he  was  turned  into  a  wolf,* 
and  at  certain  times  went  hiding  among 
the  caves.  For  there  he  went  at  a  cer¬ 
tain  time,  and  though  he  remained 
there  all  the  time  stationary,  he  believed 
that  he  was  a  wolf  which  went  about 
devouring  children;  and  though  the 
devil,  having  possessed  a  wolf,  was 
really  doing  this,  he  erroneously  thought 
that  he  was  prowling  about  in  his 
sleep.  And  he  was  for  so  long  thus  out 
of  his  senses  that  he  was  at  last  found 
lying  in  the  wood  raving.  The  devil 
delights  in  such  things,  and  caused  the 
illusion  of  the  pagans  who  believed  that; 
men  and  old  women  were  changed  into 
beasts.  From  this  it  is  seen  that  such 
things  only  happen  by  the  permission 
of  God  alone  and  through  the  opera¬ 
tion  of  devils,  and  not  through  any 
natural  defect;  since  by  no  art  or  * 
strength  can  such  wolves  be  injured  or  * 
captured.  In  this  connexion  also  Vin¬ 
cent  of  Beauvais  (in  Spec.  Hist.,  VI,  40) 
tells  that  in  Gaul,  before  the  Incar¬ 
nation  of  Christ,  and  before  the  Punic 
War,  a  wolf  snatched  a  sentry’s  sword 
out  of  its  sheath. 


*  “A  wolf  ”  There  are  two  kinds  of  wer-  J 
wolves ,  voluntary  and  involuntary.  The  voluntary 
were,  of  course,  wizards,  such  as  Gilles  Gamier, 
who  on  18  January,  1573,  was  condemned  by  the 
court  of  Dole,  Lyons,  to  be  burned  alive  for  (<the 
abominable  crimes  of  lycanthropy  and  witch¬ 
craft  T  More  than  fifty  witnesses  deposed  that  he 
had  attacked  and  killed  children  in  the  fields  and 
vineyards,  devouring  their  raw  flesh.  He  was  \ 
sometimes  seen  in  human  shape,  sometimes  as  a  If 
“ loup-garou .”  During  the  sixteenth  century  in 
France  lycanthropy  was  very  prevalent,  and  1 
numerous  trials  clearly  show  that  murder  and 
cannibalism  were  rife  in  many  country  districts,  i 


66 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  12. 


\i/ 


H 


QUESTION  XI  Also,  in  one  single  year,  which  is  the 

year  now  last  passed,  he  says  that 
That  Witches  who  are  Midwives  in  Various  forty-one  witches  were  burned,  certain 
Ways  Kill  the  Child  Conceived  in  the  others  taking  flight  to  the  Lord  Arch- 
Womb,  and  Procure  an  Abortion;  or  if  duke  of  Austria,  Sigismund.  For  con- 
they  do  not  this  Offer  New-born  Children  firmation  of  this  there  are  certain 
to  Devils.  writings  of  John  Nider  in  his  Formi- 

carius*  of  whom,  as  of  those  events 
ERE  is  set  forth  the  truth  coiwj*  which  he  recounts,  the  memory  is  still 

fresh  in  men’s  minds;  wherefore  it  is 
apparent  that  such  things  are  not  in¬ 
credible.  We  must  add  that  in  all  these 
matters  witch  midwives  cause  yet 
greater  injuries,  as  penitent  witches 
have  often  told  to  us  and  to  others,'  , 
saying :  No  one  does  more  harm  to  the 
Catholic  Faith  than  midwives.  For 
when  they  do  not  kill  children,  then, 
as  if  for  some  other  purpose,  they  take// 
them  out  of  the  room  and,  raising  them 
up  in  the  air,  offer  them  to  devils. 
But  the  method  which  they  observe  in 
crimes  of  this  sort  will  be  shown  in  the 
Second  Part,  which  we  must  soon 
approach.  But  first  one  more  question 
must  be  inquired  into,  namely,  that  of 
the  Divine  permission.  For  it  was  said 
at  the  beginning  that  three  things  are 
necessary  for  the  effecting  of  witch¬ 
craft:  the  devil,  a  witch,  and  the 
Divine  permission. 


cerning  four  horrible  crimes  which 
devils  commit  against  infants,  both  in 
the  mother’s  womb  and  afterwards. 
And  since  the  devils  do  these  things 
through  the  medium  of  women,  and 
not  men,  this  form  of  homicide  is 
associated  rather  with  women  than 
with  men.  And  the  following  are  the 
methods  by  which  it  is  done. 

The  Canonists  treat  more  fully  than 
the  Theologians  of  the  obstructions  due 
to  witchcraft;  and  they  say  that  it  is 
witchcraft,  not  only  when  anyone  is 
unable  to  perform  the  carnal  act,  of 
which  we  have  spoken  above ;  but  also 
when  a  woman  is  prevented  from  con¬ 
ceiving,  or  is  made  to  miscarry  after 
she  has  conceived.  A  third  and  fourth 
method  of  witchcraft  is  when  they  have 
failed  to  procure  an  abortion,  and  then 
either  devour  the  child  or  offer  it  to  a 
devil. 

There  is  no  doubt  concerning  the 
first  two  methods,  since,  without  the 
help  of  devils,  a  man  can  by  natural 
means,  such  as  herbs,  savin  for  example, 
or  other  emmenagogues,  procure  that 
a  woman  cannot  generate  or  conceive, 
as  has  been  mentioned  above.  But  with 
the  other  two  methods  it  is  different; 
for  they  are  effected  by  witches.  And 
there  is  no  need  to  bring  forward  the 
arguments,  since  very  evident  instances 
and  examples  will  more  readily  show 
the  truth  of  this  matter. 

The  former  of  these  two  abomina¬ 
tions  is  the  fact  that  certain  witches, 
against  the  instinct  of  human  nature, 
and  indeed  against  the  nature  of  all 
beasts,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
wolves,  are  in  the  habit  of  devouring 
and  eating  infant  children.  And  con¬ 
cerning  this,  the  Inquisitor  of  Como, 
who  has  been  mentioned  before,  has 
told  us  the  following :  that  he  was 
summoned  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
County  of  Barby  to  hold  an  inquisi¬ 
tion,  because  a  certain  man  had  missed 
his  child  from  its  cradle,  and  finding 
a  congress  of  women  in  the  night-time 


QUESTION  XII 

Whether  the  Permission  of  Almighty  God  is 
an  Accompaniment  of  Witchcraft. 

NOW  we  must  consider  the  Divine 
permission  itself,  touching  which 
four  things  are  asked.  First,  whether 
it  is  necessary  that  this  permission 
should  accompany  a  work  of  witch¬ 
craft.  Secondly,  that  God  in  His  justice 
permits  a  creature  naturally  sinful  to 
perpetrate  witchcraft  and  other  horrid 
crimes,  the  other  two  necessary  con¬ 
comitants  being  presupposed.  Thirdly, 

*  “Nider.”  John  Nider ,  O.P.,  was  born 
1380  in  Swabia;  and  died  at  Colmar ,  13  August, 
1438.  He  gained  a  wide  reputation  as  a  preacher 
and  was  active  at  the  Council  of  Constance.  An 
advocate  of  the  strictest  reforms ,  he  became 
eminent  in  the  annals  of  his  Order  by  his  energy 
and  example.  The  most  important  among  his 
many  works  is  the  “For micarius,” a  treatise  upon 
the  theological,  philosophical, 


_  ^  ,  and  social 

-  ,  ,  ,  •  1  ...  V .  ,  ..  1  questions  of  the  day.  A  complete  edition  was 

swore  that  he  saw  them  kill  his  child  published  at  Douai,  3  vols .,  1602.  The  tractate 

and  drink  its  blood  and  devour  it.  “ De  Maleficis”  has  often  been  printed  separately. 


Part  I.  Question  12. 


MALEFICARUM 


67 


that  the  crime  of  witchcraft  exceeds  all 
other  evils  which  God  permits  to  be 
done.  Fourthly,  in  what  way  this 
matter  should  be  preached  to  the 
people. 

Concerning  the  third  postulate  of 
this  First  Part,  namely,  the  Divine 
permission,  it  is  asked:  Whether  it  is 
as  Catholic  to  affirm  the  Divine  per¬ 
mission  in  these  works  of  witches,  as  it 
is  quite  heretical  to  contradict  such  an 
affirmation?  And  it  is  argued  that  it  is 
not  heretical  to  maintain  that  God 
does  not  permit  so  great  power  to  the 
devil  in  this  sort  of  witchcraft.  For  it  is 
Catholic,  and  not  heretical,  to  refute 
such  things  as  appear  to  be  to  the  dis¬ 
paragement  of  the  Creator.  And  it  is 
submitted  that  it  is  Catholic  to  main¬ 
tain  that  the  devil  is  not  allowed  such 
power  of  injuring  men,  since  to  hold 
the  opposite  opinion  seems  to  be  a  dis¬ 
paragement  of  the  Creator.  For  it 
would  then  follow  that  not  everything 
is  subject  to  the  Divine  providence, 
since  the  all-wise  Provider  keeps  away, 
as  far  as  possible,  all  defect  and  evil 
from  those  for  whom  He  cares.  And  if 
the  works  of  witchcraft  are  permitted 
by  God,  they  are  not  kept  away  by 
Him :  and  if  He  does  not  keep  them 
away,  then  God  Himself  is  not  a  wise 
Provider,  and  all  things  are  not  subject 
to  His  providence.  But  since  this  is 
false,  therefore  it  is  false  that  God 
permits  witchcraft. 

And  again,  to  permit  a  thing  to 
happen  presupposes  in  him  who  per¬ 
mits  it  that  either  he  can  prevent  it 
from  happening  if  he  wishes,  or  he 
cannot  prevent  it  even  if  he  wishes ; 
and  neither  of  these  suppositions  can 
apply  to  God.  For  in  the  first  case, 
such  a  man  would  be  thought  spiteful, 
and  in  the  second  case  impotent.  Then 
it  is  incidentally  asked :  As  to  that 
bewitchment  that  happened  to  Peter, 
if  God  could  have  prevented  it,  and 
did  not  do  so,  then  God  is  either  de¬ 
spiteful  or  He  does  not  care  for  all ; 
but  if  He  could  not  have  prevented  it 
even  if  He  wished,  then  He  is  not 
omnipotent.  But  since  it  is  not  possible 
to  maintain  the  opinion  that  God  does 
not  care  for  all,  and  the  rest,  therefore 
it  cannot  be  said  that  witchcraft  is 
done  with  the  permission  of  God. 

Besides,  he  who  is  responsible  to 
himself  and  is  the  master  of  his  own 
actions  is  not  subject  to  the  permission 
or  providence  of  any  governor.  But 


men  were  made  responsible  to  them¬ 
selves  by  God,  according  to  Ecclesi¬ 
asticus  xv :  God  made  man  from  the 
beginning,  and  left  him  in  the  hand  of 
his  counsel.  In  particular,  the  sins 
which  men  do  are  left  in  their  own 
counsel,  according  to  the  text :  He  gave 
to  them  according  to  their  hearts’ 
desire.  Therefore  not  all  evils  are  sub¬ 
ject  to  Divine  permission. 

Yet  again,  S.  Augustine  says  in  the 
Enchiridion ,  as  does  also  Aristotle  in  the 
ninth  book  of  Metaphysics:  It  is  better 
not  to  know  certain  vile  things  than  to 
know  them,  but  all  that  is  good  is  to 
be  ascribed  to  God.  Therefore  God 
does  not  prevent  thd  very  vile  works  of 
witchcraft,  whether.  He  permits  or  not. 
See  also  S.  Paul  in  I.  Corinthians  ix: 
Doth  God  take  care  for  oxen?  And  the 
same  holds  good  of  the  other  irrational 
beasts.  Wherefore  God  takes  no  care 
whether  they  are  bewitched  or  not, 
since  they  are  not  subject  to  His  per¬ 
mission,  which  proceeds  from  His 
providence. 

Again,  that  which  happens  of  neces¬ 
sity  has  no  need  of  provident  permis¬ 
sion  or  prudence.  This  is  clearly  shown 
in  Aristotle’s  Ethics ,  Book  II :  Prudence 
is  a  right  reasoning  concerning  things 
which  happen  and  are  subject  to 
counsel  and  choice.  But  several  effects 
of  witchcraft  happen  of  necessity;  as 
when  for  some  reason,  or  owing  to  the 
influence  of  the  stars,  diseases  come, 
or  any  other  things  which  we  judge  to 
be  witchcraft.  Therefore  they  are  not 
always  subject  to  Divine  permission. 

And  again,  if  men  are  bewitched  by 
Divine  permission,  then  it  is  asked : 
Why  does  this  happen  to  one  more 
than  to  another?  If  it  be  said  that  it  is 
because  of  sin,  which  abounds  more  in 
one  than  in  another,  this  does  not  seem 
valid ;  for  then  the  greater  sinners 
would  be  the  more  bewitched,  but  this 
is  manifestly  not  so,  since  they  are  less 
punished  in  this  world.  As  it  is  said : 
Well  is  it  for  the  liars.  But,  if  this  argu¬ 
ment  were  good,  they  also  would  be 
bewitched.  Finally,  it  is  clear  from  the 
fact  that  innocent  children  and  other 
just  men  suffer  most  from  witchcraft. 

But  against  these  arguments :  it  is 
submitted  that  God  permits  evil  to  be 
done,  though  He  does  not  wish  it; 
and  this  is  for  the  perfecting  of  the 
universe.  See  Dionysius,  de  Diuin.  Nom. 
Ill :  Evil  will  be  for  all  time,  even  to  the 
perfecting  of  the  universe.  And  S. 


68 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  12. 


Augustine  in  the  Enchiridion:  In  all 
things  good  and  evil  consists  the  admir¬ 
able  beauty  of  the  universe.  So  that 
what  is  said  to  be  evil  is  well  ordained, 
and  kept  in  its  due  place  commends 
more  highly  that  which  is  good;  for 
good  things  are  more  pleasing  and 
laudable  when  compared  with  bad. 
S.  Thomas  also  refutes  the  opinion  of 
those  who  say  that,  although  God  has 
no  wish  for  evil  (since  no  creature 
seeks  for  evil,  either  in  its  natural,  or 
its  animal,  or  in  its  intellectual  appe¬ 
tite,  which  is  the  will,  whose  object  is 
good),  yet  He  is  willing  that  evil  should 
exist  and  be  done.  This  he  says  to  be 
false;  since  God  neither  wishes  evil  to 
be  done,  nor  wishes  it  not  to  be  done, 
but  is  willing  to  allow  evil  to  be  done; 
and  this  is  good  for  the  perfecting  of 
the  universe. 

And  why  it  is  erroneous  to  say  that 
God  wishes  evil  to  be  and  to  be  done, 
for  the  good  of  the  universe,  he  says  is 
for  the  following  reason.  Nothing  is  to 
be  judged  good  except  what  is  good  in 
itself  and  not  by  accident.  As  the  virtu¬ 
ous  man  is  judged  good  in  .  his  intel¬ 
lectual  nature,  not  in  his  animal  nature. 
But  evil  is  not  of  itself  ordained  for 
good,  but  by  accident.  For  against  the 
intention  of  those  who  do  evil,  good 
results.  In  this  way,  against  the  inten¬ 
tion  of  witches,  or  against  the  intention 
of  tyrants,  was  it  that  through  their 
persecutions  the  patience  of  the  martyrs 
shone  out  clearly. 

Answer.  This  question  is  as  diffi¬ 
cult  to  understand  as  it  is  profitable 
to  elucidate.  For  there  is  among  the 
arguments,  not  so  much  of  Laymen  as 
of  certain  Wise  men,  this  in  common ; 
that  they  do  not  believe  that  such 
horrible  witchcraft  as  has  been  spoken 
of  is  permitted  by  God ;  being  ignorant 
of  the  causes  of  this  Divine  permission. 
And  by  reason  of  this  ignorance,  since 
witches  are  not  put  down  with  the 
vengeance  that  is  due  to  them,  they 
seem  now  to  be  depopulating  the  whole 
of  Christianity.  Therefore  that  both 
learned  and  unlearned  may  be  satisfied 
in  each  way,  according  to  the  opinion 
of  the  Theologians,  we  make  our  answer 
by  the  discussion  of  two  difficulties. 
And  first,  that  the  world  is  so  subject 
to  the  Divine  providence  that  He  Him¬ 
self  provides  for  all.  Secondly,  that  in 
His  justice  He  permits  the  prevalence 
of  sin,  which  consists  of  guilt,  punish¬ 
ment,  and  loss,  by  reason  of  His  two 


first  permissions,  namely,  the  fall  of 
the  Angels  and  that  of  our  first  parents. 
From  which  also  it  will  be  clear  that 
obstinately  to  disbelieve  this  smacks  of 
heresy,  since  such  a  man  implicates 
himself  in  the  errors  of  the  infidels. 

And  as  for  the  first,  it  is  to  be  noted 
that,  presupposing  that  which  pertains 
to  the  providence  of  God  (see  Wisdom 
xiv :  Thy  providence,  O  Father,  govern¬ 
ed  all  things),  we  ought  also  to  main¬ 
tain  that  all  things  are  subject  to  His 
providence,  and  that  also  He  immedi¬ 
ately  provides  for  all  things.  And  to 
make  this  clear,  let  us  first  refute  a 
certain  contrary  error.  For  taking  the 
text  in  Job  xxii :  Thick  clouds  are  a 
covering  to  him  that  He  seeth  not  us ; 
and  He  walketh  in  the  circuit  of  heaven : 
some  have  thought  that  the  doctrine 
of  S.  Thomas,  I,  22,  means  that  only 
incorruptible  things  are  subject  to 
Divine  providence,  such  as  the  separate 
Essences,  and  the  stars,  with  also  the 
species  of  lower  things,  which  are  also 
incorruptible;  but  they  said  that  the 
individuals  of  the  species,  being  cor¬ 
ruptible,  were  not  so  subject.  Where¬ 
fore  they  said  that  all  lower  things 
which  are  in  the  world  are  subject  to 
Divine  providence  in  the  universal,  but 
not  in  the  particular  or  individual 
sense.  But  to  others  this  opinion  did 
not  seem  tenable,  since  God  cares  for 
the  other  animals  just  as  He  does  for 
men.  Therefore  the  Rabbi  Moses,  wish¬ 
ing  to  hold  a  middle  course,  agreed 
with  their  opinion  in  saying  that  all 
corruptible  things  are  not  individually 
entirely  subject  to  Divine  governance, 
but  only  in  a  universal  sense,  as  has 
been  said  before ;  but  he  excepted  men 
from  the  generality  of  corruptible 
things,  because  of  the  splendid  nature 
of  their  intellect,  which  is  comparable 
with  that  of  the  separate  Essences.  And 
so,  according  to  his  opinion,  whatever 
witchcraft  happens  to  men  comes  from 
the  Divine  permission;  but  not  such 
as  happens  to  the  animals  or  to  the 
other  fruits  of  the  earth. 

Now  though  this  opinion  is  nearer  to 
the  truth  than  that  which  altogether 
denies  the  providence  of  God  in  worldly 
matters,  maintaining  that  the  world 
was  made  by  chance,  as  did  Demo¬ 
critus  and  the  Epicureans,  yet  it  is  not 
without  great  fallacy.  For  it  must  be 
said  that  everything  is  subject  to  Divine 
rovidence,  not  only  in  the  general, 
ut  also  in  the  particular  sense;  and 


Part  I.  Question  12.  MALEFICARUM 


69 


that  the  bewitching  not  only  of  men, 
but  also  of  animals  and  the  fruits  of 
the  earth,  comes  from  Divine  and 
provident  permission.  And  this  is  plainly 
true;  the  providence  and  ordinance  of 
things  to  some  end  extend  just  so  far 
as  the  causality  of  them  itself  extends. 
To  take  an  example  from  things  that 
are  subject  to  some  master;  they  are  so 
far  subject  to  his  providence  as  they 
are  themselves  under  his  control.  But 
the  causality  which  is  of  God  is  the 
original  agent,  and  extends  itself  to  all 
beings,  not  only  in  a  general  but  also 
in  an  individual  sense,  and  not  only 
to  things  incorruptible.  Therefore,  since 
all  things  must  be  of  God,  so  all  things 
are  cared  for  by  Him,  that  is,  are 
ordained  to  some  end. 

This  point  is  touched  by  S.  Paul  in 
Romans  xiii :  All  things  which  are  from 
God  were  ordained  by  Him.  Which  is 
to  say  that,  just  as  all  things  come  from 
God,  so  also  are  all  things  ordained  by 
Him,  and  are  consequently  subject  to 
His  providence.  For  the  providence  of 
God  is  to  be  understood  as  nothing 
else  than  the  reason,  that  is,  the  cause 
of  the  ordering  of  things  to  a  purpose. 
Therefore,  in  so  far  as  all  things  are 
a  part  of  one  purpose,  so  also  are  they 
subject  to  the  providence  of  God.  And 
God  knows  all  things,  not  only  in  the 
mass  generally,  but  also  in  the  indi¬ 
vidual  particularly.  Now  the  know¬ 
ledge  which  God  has  of  things  created 
is  to  be  compared  with  a  craftsman’s 
knowledge  of  his  work :  therefore,  just 
as  all  his  work  is  subject  to  the  order 
and  providence  of  a  craftsman,  so  are 
all  things  subject  to  the  order  and 
providence  of  God. 

But  this  does  not  provide  a  satis¬ 
factory  explanation  of  the  fact  that 
God  in  justice  permits  evil  and  witch¬ 
craft  to  be  in  the  world,  although  He  is 
Himself  the  provider  and  governor  of 
all  things;  for  it  would  seem  that,  if 
this  is  conceded,  He  ought  to  keep 
away  all  evil  from  those  for  whom  He 
cares.  For  we  see  among  men  that  a 
wise  provider  does  all  that  he  can  to 
keep  away  all  defect  and  harm  from 
those  who  are  his  care;  therefore  why 
does  not  God,  in  the  same  way,  keep 
away  all  evil?  It  must  be  noted  that  a 
particular  and  an  universal  controller 
or  provider  are  two  very  different 
matters.  For  the  particular  controller 
must  of  necessity  keep  away  all  the 
harm  he  can,  since  he  is  not  able  to 


extract  good  out  of  evil.  But  God  is  the 
universal  controller  of  the  whole  world, 
and  can  extract  much  good  from  par¬ 
ticular  evils ;  as  through  the  perse¬ 
cution  of  the  tyrants  came  the  patience 
of  the  martyrs,  and  through  the  works 
of  witches  comes  the  purgation  or 
proving  of  the  faith  of  the  just,  as  will 
be  shown.  Therefore  it  is  not  God’s 
purpose  to  prevent  all  evil,  lest  the 
universe  should  lack  the  cause  of  much 
good.  Wherefore  S.  Augustine  says  in 
the  Enchiridion:  So  merciful  is  Almighty 
God,  that  He  would  not  allow  any  evil 
to  be  in  His  works  unless  He  were  so 
omnipotent  and  good  that  He  can 
bring  good  even  out  of  evil. 

And  we  have  an  example  of  this  in 
the  actions  of  natural  things.  For 
although  the  corruptions  and  defects 
which  occur  in  natural  things  are 
contrary  to  the  purpose  of  that  par¬ 
ticular  thing  (as  when  a  thief  is  hanged, 
or  when  animals  are  killed  for  human 
food),  they  are  yet  in  accordance  with 
the  universal  purpose  of  nature  (as  that 
man’s  life  and  property  should  be  kept 
intact) ;  and  thus  the  universal  good  is 
preserved.  For  it  is  necessary  for  the 
conservation  of  the  species  that  the 
death  of  one  should  be  the  preserva-  \ 
tion  of  another.  For  lions  are  kept  alive  | 
by  the  slaughter  of  other  animals. 

It  is  Explained  with  regard  to  the  Divine 
Permission ,  that  God  would  not  make  a 
Creature  to  be  Naturally  without  Sin  * 

Secondly,  God  in  His  justice  per¬ 
mits  the  prevalence  of  evil,  both  that 
of  sin  and  that  of  pain,  and  especially  » 
now  that  the  world  is  cooling  and  '  ^ 

^UWUIII  -  -- 

declining  to  its  end;  and  this  we  shall a  ^ 
prove  from  two  propositions  which 
must  be  postulated.  First,  that  God 
would  not — or  let  us  rather  say,  with 
the  fear  of  God,  that  (humanly  speak¬ 
ing)  it  is  impossible  that  any  creature, 
man  or  Angel,  can  be  of  such  a  nature 
that  it  cannot  sin.  And  secondly,  that 
it  is  just  in  God  to  permit  man  to  sin, 
or  to  be  tempted.  These  two  proposi- 

*  “ Naturally  without  sin.”  The  theology  here 
is  very  intricate  and  must  be  followed  with  the 
utmost  caution.  All  have  free-will,  and  therefore 
might  sin.  But  Our  Lord  and  Our  Lady  did  not 
sin;  and  the  thought  that  they  might  have  sinned 
is  blasphemy.  And  S.  John  says  ( I .  iii.  9): 

“ Whosoever  is  born  of  God ,  committeth  not  sin: 
for  his  seed  abideth  in  him,  and  he  cannot  sin , 
because  he  is  born  of  God.” 


70 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  12. 


tions  being  granted,  and  since  it  is  a 
part  of  the  Divine  providence  that 
every  creature  shall  be  left  to  its  own 
nature,  it  must  be  said  that,  according 
to  the  premisses,  it  is  impossible  that 
God  does  not  permit  witchcraft  to  be 
committed  with  the  help  of  devils. 

And  that  it  was  not  possible  to  com¬ 
municate  to  a  creature  a  natural  in¬ 
capacity  for  sin,  is  shown  by  S.  Thomas 
(II,  23,  art.  1).  For  if  this  quality  were 
communicable  to  any  creature,  God 
would  have  communicated  it;  for  He 
has,  at  least  in  kind,  communicated 
all  other  graces  and  perfections  to  His 
creatures  that  are  communicable.  Such 
is  the  personal  union  of  two  natures 
in  Christ,  the  Maternity  and  Virginity 
of  Immaculate  Mary,  the  free  fellow¬ 
ship  of  travellers,  the  blessed  com¬ 
panionship  of  the  elect,  and  many  other 
things.  But  we  read  that  this  quality 
was*  not  given  to  any  creature,  either 
man  or  Angel ;  for  it  is  said :  Even  in 
His  Angels  He  found  sin.  Therefore 
it  is  certain  that  God  will  not  com¬ 
municate  to  man  a  natural  incapacity 
for  sin,  although  man  may  win  to  this 
through  grace. 

Again,  if  this  were  communicable, 
and  were  not  communicated,  the  uni¬ 
verse  would  not  be  perfect.  And  its 
perfection  consists  in  the  fact  that  all 
communicable  good  qualities  of  crea¬ 
tures  are  communicated  in  kind. 

Neither  is  it  valid  to  argue  that  God, 
being  omnipotent,  and  having  made 
men  and  Angels  in  His  likeness',  could 
also  have  caused  his  creatures  to  be 
by  nature  impeccable:  or  even  that 
He  would  make  that  condition  of 
Grace,  which  is  the  cause  of  confirma¬ 
tion  in  goodness,  an  essential  part  of 
the  nature  of  Angels  and  men,  so  that 
through  their  natural  origin  and  natural 
condition  they  would  be  so  confirmed 
in  goodness  that  they  would  not  be 
able  to  sin. 

For  the  first  argument  will  not  hold. 
Since,  although  God  is  all-powerful 
and  all-good,  yet  he  will  not  bestow 
this  quality  of  impeccability;  not  be¬ 
cause  of  any  imperfection  in  His  power, 
but  because  of  the  imperfection  of  the 
creature ;  and  this  imperfection  lies 
chiefly  in  the  fact  that  no  creature,  man 
or  Angel,  is  capable  of  receiving  this 
quality.  And  for  this  reason:  that,  being 
a  creature,  its  being  depends  upon  its 
Creator,  just  as  an  effect  depends  on 
the  cause  of  its  being.  And  to  create  is 


to  make  something  out  of  nothing ;  and 
this,  if  left  to  itself,  perishes,  but  en¬ 
dures  so  long  as  it  preserves  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  its  cause.  You  may  take,  if  you 
wish,  an  example  from  a  candle,  which 
burns  only  so  long  as  it  has  wax.  This 
being  so,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  God 
created  man,  and  left  him  in  the  hand 
of  his  own  counsel  ( Ecclesiasticus  xvii). 
And  so  also  He  created  the  Angels  in 
the  beginning  of  Creation.  And  this 
was  done  for  the  sake  of  Free-will,  the 
property  of  which  is  to  do  or  to  omit 
doing,  to  recede  or  not  to  recede  from 
its  cause.  And  since  to  recede  from 
God,  from  free-will,  is  to  sin,  therefore 
it  was  impossible  for  man  or  Angel  to 
receive,  and  God  did  not  will  to  give, 
such  a  natural  quality  that  he  should 
at  the  same  time  be  endowed  with 
free-will  and  also  be  incapable  of  sin. 

Another  imperfection  by  reason  of 
which  this  quality  cannot  be  com¬ 
municated  to  man  or  Angel  is  that  it 
implies  a  contradiction;  and  since  a 
contradiction  is  by  its  nature  im¬ 
possible,  we  say  that  God  will  not  do 
this  thing.  Or  rather  we  should  say 
that  His  creatures  cannot  receive  such 
a  quality.  For  example,  it  is  impossible 
that  anything  can  be  at  one  and  the 
same  time  alive  and  dead.  And  so  it 
would  imply  this  contradiction :  that  a 
man  should  have  free-will,  by  which 
he  would  be  able  to  depart  from  his 
Creator,  and  that  he  should  also  be 
unable  to  sin.  But  if  he  were  unable 
to  sin,  he  would  be  unable  to  depart 
from  his  Creator.  For  this  is  sin:  to 
despise  the  incommutable  good  and 
cleave  to  things  that  are  variable.  But 
to  despise  or  not  to  despise  is  a  matter 
of  free-will. 

The  second  argument  also  is  not 
valid.  For  if  the  confirmation  of  grace 
were  so  essential  a  part  of  the  original 
creation  that  it  became  a  natural 
quality  of  the  creature  to  be  unable  to 
sin,  then  his  inability  to  sin  would 
arise,  not  from  any  exterior  cause  or 
from  grace,  but  from  his  own  very 
nature;  and  then  he  would  be  God, 
which  is  absurd.  S.  Thomas  treats  of 
this  in  his  above  solution  of  the  last 
argument,  when  he  says  that  whenever 
there  happens  to  any  creature  some¬ 
thing  that  can  only  be  caused  by  a 
superior  influence,  the  lower  nature 
cannot  of  itself  cause  that  effect  with¬ 
out  the  co-operation  of  the  higher 
nature.  For  example,  a  gas  becomes 


Part  I.  Question  13.  MALEFICARUM 


71 


ignited  by  fire ;  but  it  could  not  of  its 
own  nature  light  itself  without  fire. 

I  say,  therefore,  that  since  the  con¬ 
firmation  of  a  rational  creature  comes 
only  through  grace,  which  is  a  sort  of 
spiritual  light  or  image  of  the  light  of 
Creation,  it  is  impossible  for  any 
creature  to  have,  of  its  own  nature, 
that  confirmation  or  grace,  unless  it  be 
made  one  with  the  Divine  nature ;  that 
is,  unless  it  be  of  the  same  nature  as 
God,  which  is  altogether  impossible. 
Let  us  conclude  by  saying  that  the 
inability  to  sin  belongs  by  nature  to 
God  alone.  For  He  does  not  depart 
from  His  nature,  Who  gives  to  all 
things  their  being,  neither  can  He 
depart  from  the  righteousness  of  His 
goodness ;  for  this  belongs  to  Him 
through  the  character  of  His  nature. 
But  for  all  others  who  have  this  quality 
that  they  cannot  sin,  it  is  conferred 
upon  them  through  the  confirmation 
in  goodness  by  grace;  by  which  the 
sons  of  God  are  made  free  from  sin, 
and  they  who  in  any  way  consort  with 
the  Divine  nature. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XIII 

Herein  is  set  forth  the  Question  concerning 
the  Two  Divine  Permissions  which  God 
justly  allows ,  namely ,  that  the  Devil,  the 
Author  of  all  Evil,  should  Sin,  and  that 
our  First  Parents  should  Fall ,  from 
which  Origins  the  Works  of  Witches  are 
justly  suffered  to  take  place. 

THE  second  question  and  proposi¬ 
tion  is  that  God  justly  permitted 
certain  Angels  to  sin  in  deed,  which 
He  could  not  have  allowed  unless  they 
were  capable  of  sin;  and  that  in  like 
manner  He  preserved  certain  creatures 
through  grace;  without  their  having 
previously  suffered  temptation ;  and 
that  He  justly  allows  man  both  to  be 
tempted  and  to  sin.  And  all  this  is 
clearly  shown  as  follows.  For  it  is  a 
part  of  Divine  providence  that  each 
single  thing  should  be  left  to  its  own 
nature,  and  not  be  altogether  impeded 
in  its  natural  works.  For,  as  Dionysius 
says  ( de  Diuin.  Nom .,  IV),  Providence  is 
not  a  destroyer,  but  a  preserver  of 
nature.  This  being  so,  it  is  manifest 
that,  just  as  the  good  of  the  race  is 
better  than  the  good  of  the  individual 
(Aristotle,  Ethics ,  I),  so  also  the  good 


of  the  universe  takes  precedence  over 
the  good  of  any  particular  creature. 
Therefore  we  must  add  that,  if  men 
were  prevented  from  sinning,  many 
steps  to  perfection  would  be  removed. 
For  that  nature  would  be  removed 
which  has  it  in  its  power  to  sin  or  not 
to  sin ;  but  it  has  already  been  shown 
that  this  is  a  natural  property  of  man’s 
nature. 

And  let  it  be  answered  that,  if  there 
had  been  no  sin,  but  immediate  con¬ 
firmation,  then  there  would  never  have 
appeared  what  debt  of  grace  in  good 
works  is  due  to  God,  and  what  the 
power  of  sin  has  been  able  to  effect, 
and  many  other  things  without  which 
the  universe  would  suffer  great  loss. 
For  it  behoved  that  Satan  should  sin, 
not  through  some  outside  suggestion, 
but  that  he  should  find  in  himself  the 
occasion  of  sin.  And  this  he  did  when 
he  wished  to  be  equal  to  God.  Now  this 
is  to  be  understood  neither  simply  and 
directly,  nor  indirectly,  but  only  with 
a  reservation ;  and  this  is  declared 
according  to  the  authority  of  Esaias 
xiv :  I  will  ascend  above  the  heights 
of  the  clouds ;  I  will  be  like  the  Most 
High.  For  it  must  not  be  understood 
simply  and  directly,  because  in  that 
case  he  would  have  had  a  limited  and 
erring  understanding,  in  seeking  some¬ 
thing  which  was  impossible  for  him. 
For  he  knew  that  he  was  a  creature 
created  by  God,  and  therefore  he  knew 
that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  become 
equal  to  his  Creator.  Neither,  again, 
must  it  be  understood  indirectly;  for 
since  the  whole  good  of  an  Angel  and 
a  creature  lies  in  its  subjection  to  God, 
just  as  the  whole  transparence  of  the  air 
consists  in  its  subjection  to  the  sun’s 
rays;  therefore  nothing  which  would 
be  contrary  to  the  good  of  its  nature 
could  be  sought  for  by  an  Angel.  But 
he  sought  for  equality  with  God,  not 
absolutely,  but  with  a  reservation, 
which  was  as  follows.  The  nature  of 
God  has  two  qualities,  that  of  blessed¬ 
ness  and  goodness,  and  the  fact  that 
all  the  blessedness  and  goodness  of 
His  creatures  issues  from  Him.  There¬ 
fore  the  Angel,  seeing  that  the  dignity 
of  his  own  nature  transcended  that  of 
the  other  creatures,  wished  and  asked 
that  the  blessedness  and  goodness  of 
all  the  inferior  creatures  should  be 
derived  from  him.  And  he  sought  this 
in  his  own  natural  capacity,  that  just 
as  he  was  the  first  to  be  endowed  in 


72 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  13. 


nature  with  those  qualities,  so  the 
other  creatures  should  receive  them 
from  the  nobility  of  his  nature.  And 
he  sought  this  of  God,  in  perfect 
willingness  to  remain  subject  to  God 
so  long  as  he  had  that  power  granted 
to  him.  Therefore  he  did  not  wish  to 
be  made  equal  with  God  absolutely, 
but  only  with  a  reservation. 

It  is  further  to  be  noted  that,  wish¬ 
ing  to  bring  his  desire  to  the  point  of 
action,  he  suddenly  made  it  known  to 
others;  and  the  understanding  of  the 
other  Angels  of  his  desire,  and  their 
perverse  consenting  to  it,  was  also 
sudden.  Therefore  the  sin  of  the  First 
Angel  exceeded  and  preceded  the  sins 
of  the  others  in  respect  of  the  magni¬ 
tude  of  his  guilt  and  causality,  but  not 
in  respect  of  duration.  See  Apocalypse 
xii.  The  dragon  falling  from  heaven 
drew  with  him  the  third  part  of  the 
stars.  And  he  lives  in  the  form  of 
Leviathan,  and  is  king  over  all  the 
children  of  pride.  And,  according  to 
Aristotle  ( Metaph .,  V),  he  is  called  king 
of  princes,  inasmuch  as  he  moves  those 
who  are  subject  to  him  according  to 
his  will  and  command.  Therefore  his 
sin  was  the  occasion  of  sin  in  others, 
since  he  first,  not  having  been  tempted 
from  outside,  was  the  external  tempta¬ 
tion  of  others. 

And  that  all  these  things  happened 
instantaneously  may  be  exemplified  by 
physical  things;  for  the  ignition  of  a 
gas,  the  sight  of  the  flame,  and  the 
impression  formed  by  that  sight  all 
happen  at  one  and  the  same  time. 

I  have  put  this  matter  at  some 
length ;  for  in  the  consideration  of  that 
stupendous  Divine  permission  in  the 
case  of  the  most  noble  creatures  with 
regard  to  the  one  sin  of  ambition,  it 
will  be  easier  to  admit  particular  per¬ 
missions  in  the  case  of  the  works  of 
witches,  which  are  in  some  circum¬ 
stances  even  greater  sins.  For  in  certain 
circumstances  the  sins  of  witches  are 
greater  than  that  of  the  Angel  or  of 
our  first  parents,  as  will  be  shown  in 
the  Second  Part. 

Now  the  fact  that  the  providence  of 
God  permitted  the  first  man  to  be 
tempted  and  to  sin  is  sufficiently  clear 
from  what  has  been  said  concerning 
the  transgression  of  the  Angels.  For 
both  man  and  the  Angel  were  created 
to  the  same  end,  and  left  with  free-will, 
in  order  that  they  might  receive  the 
reward  of  blessedness  not  without  merit. 


Therefore,  just  as  the  Angel  was  not 
preserved  from  his  fall,  in  order  that 
the  power  of  sin  on  the  one  side  and 
the  power  of  the  confirmation  of  grace 
on  the  other  side  might  work  together 
for  the  glory  of  the  universe,  so  also 
ought  it  to  be  considered  in  the  case 
of  man. 

Wherefore  S.  Thomas  (II,  23,  art.  2) 
says :  That  by  which  God  is  glorified 
ought  not  to  be  hindered  from  within. 
But  God  is  glorified  in  sin,  when  He 
pardons  in  mercy  and  when  He  punishes 
injustice;  therefore  it  behoves  Him  not 
to  hinder  sin.  Let  us,  then,  return  to  a 
brief  recapitulation,  of  our  proposition, 
namely,  that  by  the  just  providence  of 
God  man  is  permitted  to  sin  for  many 
reasons.  First,  that  the  power  of  God 
may  be  shown,  Who  alone  is  unchang¬ 
ing  while  every  creature  is  variable. 
Secondly,  that  the  wisdom  of  God  may 
be  declared,  Who  can  bring  good  out 
of  evil,  which  could  not  be  unless 
God  had  allowed  the  creature  to  sin. > 
Thirdly,  that  the  mercy  of  God  may 
be  made  manifest,  by  which  Christ 
through  His  death  liberated  man  who 
was  lost.  Fourthly,  that  the  justice  of 
God  may  be  shown,  which  not  only 
rewards  the  good,  but  also  punishes 
the  wicked.  Fifthly,  that  the  condition 
of  man  may  not  be  worse  than  that  of 
other  creatures,  all  of  whom  God  so 
governs  that  He  allows  them  to  act 
after  their  own  nature;  wherefore  it 
behoved  Him  to  leave  man  to  his  own 
judgement.  Sixthly,  for  the  glory  of 
men ;  that  is,  the  glory  of  the  just  man 
who  could  transgress  but  has  not.  And 
seventhly,  for  the  adorning  of  the  uni¬ 
verse  ;  for  as  there  is  a  threefold  evil  in 
sin,  namely,  guilt,  pain,  and  loss,  so  is 
the  universe  adorned  by  the  corre¬ 
sponding  threefold  good,  namely,  right¬ 
eousness,  pleasure,  and  usefulness.  For 
righteousness  is  adorned  by  guilt, 
pleasure  by  pain,  and  all  usefulness  by 
loss.  And  by  this  the  answer  to  the 
arguments  is  made  plain. 

Solutions  of  the  Arguments. 

According  to  the  first  argument  it  is 
heretical  to  maintain  that  the  devil  is 
allowed  power  to  injure  men.  But  the 
opposite  appears  rather  to  be  true ;  for 
it  is  heretical  to  assert  that  God  does 
not  permit  man,  of  his  own  free-will, 
to  sin  when  he  wishes.  And  God  per¬ 
mits  much  sin,  by  reason  of  His  power 


Part  I.  Question  14.  MALEFICARUM 


to  hurt  men  in  the  punishment  of  the 
wicked  for  the  adorning  of  the  universe. 
For  it  is  said  by  S.  Augustine  in  his 
Book  of  Soliloquies:  Thou,  Lord,  hast 
commanded,  and  it  is  so,  that  the  shame 
of  guilt  should  never  be  without  the 
glory  of  punishment. 

And  that  is  not  a  valid  proof  of  the 
argument  which  is  taken  from  the  wise 
ruler  who  keeps  away  all  defect  and 

jY"  25  ^ar.  as  he  tan*  For  it  is  quite 
different  with  God,  Who  has  an  univer¬ 
sal  care,  from  one  who  has  only  a  par¬ 
ticular  care.  For  God,  Whose  care  is 
universal,  can  bring  good  out  of  evil, 
as  is  shown  by  what  has  been  said. 

For  the  second  argument,  it  is  clear 
that  God’s  power  as  well  as  His  good¬ 
ness  and  justice  are  manifest  in  His 
permission  of  sin.  So  when  it  is  argued 
that  God  either  can  or  cannot  prevent 
evil  the  answer  is  that  He  can  prevent 
it,  but  that  for  the  reasons  already 
shown  it  does  not  behove  Him  to  do  so. 

Neither  is  it  valid  to  object  that  He 
therefore  wishes  evil  to  be,  since  He  can 
prevent  it  but  will  not;  for,  as  has 
been  shown  in  the  arguments  for  the 
truth,  God  cannot  wish  evil  to  be.  He 
neither  wishes  nor  does  not  wish  it,  but 
He  permits  it  for  the  perfecting  of  the 
universe. 

In  fhe  third  argument  S.  Augustine 
and  Aristode  are  quoted  on  the  subject 
ol  human  knowledge,  saying  that  it  is 
better  for  a  man  not  to  have  knowledge 
ol  that  which  is  evil  and  vile  for  two 
reasons:  first,  that  then  he  will  have 
less  opportunity  to  think  of  evil,  since 
we  cannot  understand  many  things  at 
the  same  time.  And  secondly,  because 
Knowledge  of  evil  sometimes  perverts 
the  will  towards  evil.  But  these  argu¬ 
ments  do  not  concern  God,  Who  with¬ 
out  any  detriment  understands  all  the 
deeds  of  men  and  of  witches. 

For  the  fourth  argument:  S.  Paul 
excepts  the  care  of  God  from  oxen,  to 
show  that  a  rational  creature  has 
through  free-will  command  over  its 
actions,  as  has  been  said.  Therefore 
Ood  has  a  special  providence  over 
him,  that  either  blame  or  merit  may 
be  imputed  to  him,  and  he  may  receive 
either  pumpmen!;  0r  reward;  but  that 
God  does  not  in  this  way  care  for  the 
irrational  beasts. 

®u^to.  "gue  from  that  authority 
thai  the  individuals  of  irrational  crea- 
mn  have  no  part  in  Divine  providence 
would  be  heretical;  for  it  would  be  to 


73 

maintain  that  all  things  are  not  subject 
to  Divine  providence,  and  would  be 
contrary  to  the  praise  which  is  spoken 
in  Holy  Scripture  concerning  the  Divine 
wisdom,  which  stretches  mightily  from 
end  to  end  and  disposes  all  things  well  * 
and  it  would  be  the  error  of  the  Rabbi 
Moses,  as  was  shown  in  the  arguments 
for  the  truth.  . 

For  the  fifth  argument,  man  did  not 
institute  nature,  but  puts  the  works  of 
nature  to  the  greatest  use  known  to  his 
skill .  and  strength.  Therefore  human 
providence  does  not  extend  to  the  in¬ 
evitable  phenomena  of  nature,  as  that 
the  sun  will  rise  to-morrow.  But  God’s 
providence  does  extend  to  these  things, 
sjnce  *s  ^mse^  the  author  of  nature. 
Wherefore  also  defects  in  nature,  even 
if  they  arise  out  of  the  natural  course 
of  things,  are  subject  to  Divine  provi¬ 
dence.  And  therefore  Democritus  and 
the  other  natural  philosophers  were  in 
error  when  they  ascribed  whatever 
happened  to  the  inferior  creation  to 
the  mere  chance  of  matter. 

For  the  last  argument:  although 
every  punishment  is  inflicted  by  God 
for  sin,  yet  the  greatest  sinners  are  not 
always  afflicted  with  witchcraft.  And 
this  may  be  because  the  devil  does  not 
wish  to  afflict  and  tempt  those  whom  he 
sees  to  belong  to  him  by  just  title,  or 
because  he  does  not  wish  them  to  be 
turned  back  to  God.  As  it  is  said :  Their 
plagues  wefe  multiplied,  and  they 
turned  them  to  God,  etc.  And  that  all 
punishment  is  inflicted  by  God  for  sin 
is  shown  by  what  follows ;  for  according 
to  S.  Jerome:  Whatever  we  suffer, 
we  deserve  for  our  sins. 

Now  it  is  declared  that  the  sins  of 
witches  are  more  grievous  than  those 
l*16  ^ad  angels  and  our  first  parents. 
Wherefore,  just  as  the  innocent  are 
punished  for  the  sins  of  their  fathers, 
so  are  many  blameless  people  damned 
and  bewitched  for  the  sms  of  witches. 


QUESTION  XIV 

The  Enormity  of  Witches  is  Considered ,  and 
it  is  shown  that  the  Whole  Matter  should 
be  rightly  Set  Forth  and  Declared. 

Concerning  the  enormity  of 

crimes,  it  is  asked  whether  the 
crimes  of  witches  exceed,  both  in  guilt, 
in  pain,  and  in  loss,  all  the  evils  which 


74 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  14. 


God  allows  and  has  permitted  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world  up  till  now. 
And  it  seems  that  they  do  not,  especially 
as  regards  guilt.  For  the  sin  which  a 
man  commits  when  he  could  easily 
avoid  it  is  greater  than  the  sin  which 
another  man  commits  when  he  could 
not  so  easily  avoid  it.  This  is  shown  by 
S.  Augustine,  de  Ciuit.  Dei:  There  is 
great  wickedness  in  sinning  when  it  is 
so  easy  not  to  sin.  But  Adam,  and 
others  who  have  sinned  when  in  a  state 
of  perfection  or  even  of  grace,  could 
more  easily  because  of  the  help  of 
grace  have  avoided  their  sins — especially 
Adam  who  was  created  in  grace — than 
many  witches,  who  have  not  shared  in 
such  gifts.  Therefore  the  sins  of  such 
are  greater  than  all  the  crimes  of 
witches. 

And  again  in  respect  of  punishment: 
the  greater  punishment  is  due  to  the 
greater  blame.  But  Adam’s  sin  was  the 
most  heavily  punished,  as  is  plainly 
proved  by  the  fact  that  both  his  guilt 
and  his  punishment  are  shown  in  all 
his  posterity  by  the  inheritance  of 
original  sin.  Therefore  his  sin  is  greater 
than  all  other  sins. 

And  again,  the  same  is  argued  in 
respect  of  loss.  For  according  to  S. 
Augustine:  A  thing  is  evil  in  that  it 
takes  away  from  the  good ;  therefore 
where  there  is  the  more  good  lost,  there 
the  greater  evil  has  gone  before.  But 
the  sin  of  our  first  parent  brought  the 
greatest  loss  both  to  nature  and  to 
grace,  since  it  deprived  us  of  innocence 
and  immortality;  and  no  subsequent 
sin  has  brought  such  loss,  therefore, 
etc. 

But  on  the  contrary  side:  that  which 
includes  the  most  causes  of  evil  is  the 
greater  evil,  and  such  are  the  sins  of 
witches.  For  they  can,  with  God’s  per¬ 
mission,  bring  every  evil  upon  that 
which  is  good  by  nature  and  in  form, 
as  is  declared  in  the  Papal  Bull.  Be¬ 
sides,  Adam  sinned  only  in  doing  that 
which  was  wrong  in  one  of  two  ways ; 
for  it  was  forbidden,  but  was  not  wrong 
in  itself:  but  witches  and  other  sinners 
sin  in  doing  that  which  is  wrong  in 
both  ways,  wrong  in  itself,  and  for¬ 
bidden,  such  as  murders  and  many 
other  forbidden  things.  Therefore  their 
sins  are  heavier  than  other  sins. 

Besides,  sin  which  comes  from  definite 
malice  is  heavier  than  sin  which  comes 
from  ignorance.  But  witches,  out  of 
great  malice,  despise  the  Faith  and  the 


sacraments  of  the  Faith,  as  many  of 
them  have  confessed. 

Answer.  The  evils  which  are  per¬ 
petrated  by  modern  witches  exceed  all 
other  sin  which  God  has  ever  per¬ 
mitted  to  be  done,  as  was  said  in  the 
title  of  this  Question.  And  this  can  be 
shown  in  three  ways,  in  so  far  as  they 
are  sins  involving  perversity  of  char¬ 
acter,  though  it  is  different  with  the 
sins  that  contravene  the  other  Theo¬ 
logical  virtues.  First  in  general,  by 
comparing  their  works  indifferently 
with  any  other  worldly  crimes.  Secondly 
in  particular,  by  considering  the  species 
of  the  superstition  and  into  what  pact 
they  have  entered  with  the  devil.  And 
thirdly,  by  comparing  their  sins  with 
the  sins  of  the  bad  Angels  and  even 
with  that  of  our  first  parents. 

And  first,  sin  is  threefold,  involving 
guilt,  punishment,  and  loss.  Good  also 
is  correspondingly  threefold,  involving 
righteousness,  felicity,  and  use.  And 
righteousness  corresponds  with  guilt, 
felicity  with  punishment,  and  use  with 
loss. 

That  the  guilt  of  witches  exceeds  all/’ 
other  sins  is  apparent  in  this  way.  Foil 
according  to  the  teaching  of  S.  Thomas 
(ii,  22,  art.  2),  there  is  in  the  matter 
of  sin  much  that  may  be  considered 
whereby  the  gravity  or  lightness  of  the 
sin  may  be  deduced ;  and  the  same  sin 
may  be  found  heavy  in  one  and  light 
in  another.  For  example,  we  can  say 
that  in  fornication  a  young  man  sins, 
but  an  old  man  is  mad.  Yet  those  sins 
are,  simply  speaking,  the  heavier  which 
are  not  only  attended  by  the  more 
extensive  and  more  powerful  circum¬ 
stances,  but  are  in  their  nature  and 
quantity  of  a  more  essentially  serious 
sort. 

And  so  we  can  say  that,  though  the 
sin  of  Adam  was  in  some  respects 
heavier  than  all  other  sins,  inasmuch 
as  he  fell  to  the  instigation  of  a  smaller 
temptation,  since  it  came  only  from 
within ;  and  also  because  he  could 
more  easily  have  resisted  on  account  of 
the  original  justice  in  which  he  was 
created :  nevertheless  in  the  form  and 
quantity  of  sin,  and  in  other  respects 
which  aggravate  the  sin  the  more  in 
that  it  is  the  cause  of  many  yet  heavier 
sins,  the  sins  of  witches  exceed  all  other 
sins.  And  this  will  be  made  still  clearer 
in  two  ways. 

For  one  sin  is  said  to  be  greater  than 
another  in  one  or  other  of  the  follow- 


75 


Part  I.  Question  14.  MALEFICARUM 


ing  respects:  in  causality,  as  was  the 
sin  of  Lucifer ;  in  generality,  as  Adam’s 
sin;  in  hideousness,  as  was  the  sin  of 
Judas ;  in  the  difficulty  of  forgiving  it, 
as  is  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost; 
in  danger,  as  is  the  sin  of  ignorance ;  in 
inseparability,  as  is  the  sin  of  covetous¬ 
ness  ;  in  inclination,  as  is  the  sin  of  the 
flesh;  in  the  offending  of  the  Divine 
Majesty,  as  is  the  sin  of  idolatry  and 
infidelity ;  in  the  difficulty  of  combating 
it,  as  the  sin  of  pride ;  in  blindness  of 
mind,  as  the  sin  of  anger.  Accordingly, 
after  the  sin  of  Lucifer,  the  works  of 
witches  exceed  all  other  sins,  in  hideous¬ 
ness  since  they  deny  Him  crucified,  in 
inclination  since  they  commit  nasti¬ 
ness  of  the  flesh  with  devils,  in  blind¬ 
ness  of  mind  since  in  a  pure  spirit  of 
malignity  they  rage  and  bring  every 
injury  upon  the  souls  and  bodies  of 
men  and  beasts,  as  has  been  shown 
from  what  has  been  said  before. 

And  this,  indeed,  is  indicated,  accord¬ 
ing  to  S.  Isidore,  by  the  word.  For  they 
are  called  witches  ( maleficae )  on  account 
of  the  enormity  of  their  crimes,  as  has 
been  said  above. 

Our  contention  is  also  deduced  from 
the  following.  There  are  two  gradations 
in  sin,  a  turning  away,  and  a  change 
of  heart.  See  our  quotation  from  S. 
Augustine:  Sin  is  to  reject  the  incom¬ 
mutable  good,  and  to  cleave  to  things 
that  are  variable.  And  the  turning 
away  from  God  is  as  it  were  formal, 
just  as  the  change  of  heart  is  as  it  were 
material.  Therefore  the  more  a  man  is 
separated  from  God  by  it,  the  heavier 
is  the  sin.  And  since  infidelity  is  the 
chief  cause  of  man’s  separation  from 
God,  the  infidelity  of  witches  stands 
out  as  the  greatest  of  sins.  And  this  is 
given  the  name  of  Heresy,  which  is 
Apostasy  from  the  Faith;  and  in  this 
witches  sin  throughout  their  whole 
lives. 

For  the  sin  of  infidelity  consists  in 
opposing  the  Faith ;  and  this  may  come 
about  in  two  ways,  by  opposing  a  faith 
which  has  not  yet  been  received,  or  by 
opposing  it  after  it  has  been  received. 
Of  the  first  sort  is  the  infidelity  of  the 
Pagans  or  Gentiles.  In  the  second  way, 
the  Christian  Faith  may  be  denied  in 
two  ways:  either  by  denying  the 
prophecies  concerning  it,  or  by  deny¬ 
ing  the  actual  manifestation  of  its 
truth.  And  the  first  of  these  is  the 
infidelity  of  the  Jews,  and  the  second 
the  infidelity  of  Heretics. 


It  is  clear  from  this  that  the  heresy 
of  witches  is  the  most  heinous  of  the 
three  degrees  of  infidelity;  and  this  fact 
is  proved  both  by  reason  and  authority. 
For  it  is  said  in  II.  S.  Peter  ii :  It  had 
been  better  for  them  not  to  have  known 
the  way  of  righteousness,  than,  after 
they  have  known  it,  to  turn  from  it. 
And  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that, 
just  as  he  who  does  not  perform  what 
he  has  promised  commits  a  greater  sin 
than  he  who  does  not  perform  what  he 
never  promised,  so  the  infidelity  of 
heretics,  who  while  professing  the  faith 
of  the  Gospel  fight  against  it  by  cor¬ 
rupting  it,  is  a  greater  sin  than  that 
of  the  Jews  and  Pagans. 

And  again,  the  Jews  sin  more  greatly 
than  the  Pagans ;  for  they  received  the 
prophecy  of  the  Christian  Faith  in  the 
Old  Law,  which  they  corrupt  through 
badly  interpreting  it,  which  is  not  the 
case  with  the  Pagans.  Therefore  their 
infidelity  is  a  greater  sin  than  that  of 
the  Gentiles,  who  never  received  the 
Faith  of  the  Gospel.  But  concerning 
Apostasy,  S.  Thomas  says  in  the  Second 
of  the  Second ,  question  1 2  :  Apostasy 
means  a  turning  away  from  God  and 
religion,  and  this  may  happen  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  different  ways  by  which  man 
is  joined  to  God;  that  is,  by  faith,  or 
by  the  subjection  of  the  will  to  obedi¬ 
ence,  or  by  religion  and  Holy  Orders. 

S.  Raymund  and  Hostiensis  say  that 
Apostasy  is  a  rash  departure  from  the 
state  of  faith  or  obedience  or  Religion. 
Now  if  that  which  precedes  is  removed, 
that  which  follows  from  it  is  also  re¬ 
moved;  but  the  converse  proposition 
is  not  true.  Therefore  Apostasy  from 
the  Faith  is  a  greater  sin  than  the  other 
two  forms  of  infidelity,  since  in  its  case 
a  precedent  Religion  has  been  removed. 

But  according  to  S.  Raymund,  a 
man  is  not  to  be  judged  an  Apostate 
or  deserter,  however  far  and  long  he 
may  have  strayed,  unless  he  shows  by 
his  subsequent  life  that  he  has  no 
thought  of  returning  to  the  Faith.  And 
this  would  be  shown  in  the  case  of  a 
cleric  if  he  were  to  marry  a  wife,  or 
commit  some  similar  crime.  In  the 
same  way  it  is  an  Apostasy  of  dis¬ 
obedience  when  a  man  wilfully  spurns 
the  teaching  of  the  Church  and  the 
Bishops.  And  such  a  man  must  be 
convicted  of  his  infamy,  and  be  excom¬ 
municated. 

Now  when  we  speak  of  the  Apostasy  * 
of  witches,  we  mean  the  Apostasy  of 


76 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  14. 


perfidy ;  and  this  is  so  much  the  more 
heinous,  in  that  it  springs  from  a  pact 
made  with  the  enemy  of  the  Faith  and 
the  way  of  salvation.  For  witches  are 
bound  to  make  this  pact,  which  is 
exacted  by  that  enemy  either  in  part 
or  wholly.  For  we  Inquisitors  have 
found  some  witches  who  have  denied 
all  the  articles  of  Faith,  and  others 
who  have  denied  only  a  certain  number 
of  them ;  but  they  are  all  bound  to  deny 
true  and  sacramental  confession.  And 
so,  even  the  Apostasy  of  Julian  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  so  great,  although 
in  other  respects  he  did  more  harm 
against  the  Church;  but  we  cannot 
speak  of  that  here. 

But  it  may  be  incidentally  objected 
that  it  is  possible  that  they  may  keep 
the  Faith  in  the  thoughts  of  their 
hearts,  which  God  alone,  and  not  even 
any  Angel,  can  see  into;  but  do  rever¬ 
ence  and  obedience  to  the  devil  only 
in  outward  form.  The  answer  to  this 
seems  to  be  that  there  are  two  degrees 
of  the  Apostasy  of  perfidy.  One  con¬ 
sists  in  outward  acts  of  infidelity,  with¬ 
out  the  formation  of  any  pact  with  the 
devil,  as  when  one  lives  in  the  lands  of 
the  infidels  and  conforms  his  life  to 
that  of  the  Mohammedans.  The  other 
consists  in  a  pact  made  with  the  devil 
by  one  who  lives  in  Christian  lands.  In 
the  first  case,  men  who  keep  the  Faith 
in  their  hearts  but  deny  it  in  their 
outward  acts,  though  they  are  not 
Apostates  or  Heretics,  are  guilty  of 
deadly  sin.  For  in  this  way  Solomon 
showed  reverence  to  the  gods  of  his 
wives.  And  no  one  can  be  excused  on 
the  ground  that  he  does  this  through 
fear ;  for  S.  Augustine  says :  It  is  better 
to  die  of  hunger  than  to  be  fed  by 
Idolaters.  But  however  much  witches 
may  retain  the  Faith  in  their  hearts 
while  denying  it  with  their  lips,  they 
are  still  to  be  judged  Apostates,  since 
they  have  made  a  treaty  with  death 
and  a  compact  with  hell.  Wherefore 
S.  Thomas  (II,  4),  speaking  of  such 
magic  works,  and  of  those  who  in  any 
way  seek  help  from  devils,  says:  They 
are  all  Apostates  from  the  Faith,  by 
reason  of  a  pact  made  with  the  Devil, 
either  in  word,  when  some  invocation 
is  used,  or  by  some  deed,  even  if  there 
is  no  actual  sacrifice.  For  no  man  can 
serve  two  masters. 

To  the  same  effect  writes  Blessed 
Albertus  Magnus,  where  he  asks  whether 
the  sin  of  Magicians  and  Astrologers  is 


an  Apostasy  from  the  Faith.  And  he 
answers :  In  such  there  is  always 
Apostasy  either  of  word  or  of  deed. 
For  if  invocations  are  made,  then  there 
is  an  open  pact  made  with  the  devil, 
and  it  is  plainly  Apostasy  in  word. 
But  if  their  magic  is  simply  a  matter 
of  action,  then  it  is  Apostasy  in  deed. 
And  since  in  all  these  there  is  abuse  of 
the  Faith,  seeing  that  they  look  for 
from  the  devil  what  they  ought  to  look 
for  from  God,  therefore  they  are  always 
to  be  judged  Apostates.  See  how  clearly 
they  set  forth  two  degrees  of  Apostasy, 
understanding  a  third,  namely,  that  of 
thought.  And  even  if  this  last  is  lack-  s 
ing,  yet  witches  are  judged  to  be 
Apostates  in  word  and  deed.  There¬ 
fore,  as  will  be  shown,  they  must  be 
subject  to  the  punishment  of  Heretics 
and  Apostates. 

And  there  is  in  them  a  third  enormity 
of  crime,  exceeding  all  other  heresies. 
For  S.  Augustine  (XXVIII,  1  and  2) 
tells  us  that  the  whole  life  of  infidels  is 
a  sin ;  and  the  gloss  on  Romans  xiv  says 
that  everything  which  comes  not  of 
faith  is  sin.  What  then  is  to  be  thought 
of  the  whole  life  of  witches,  that  is,  of 
all  their  other  actions  which  are  not 
pleasing  to  the  devil,  such  as  fasting, 
attending  church,  communicating,  and 
other  things?  For  in  all  these  things 
they  commit  deadly  sin,  as  is  shown  as 
follows.  So  far  have  they  fallen  in  sin 
that,  although  they  have  not  lost  all 
power  of  amendment  (since  sin  does 
not  corrupt  the  whole  good  of  their 
nature,  and  a  natural  light  yet  remains 
in  them) ;  yet,  because  of  their  homage 
given  to  the  devil,  and  unless  they  be 
absolved  from  it,  all  their  works,  even 
when  they  appear  to  be  good,  are 
rather  of  an  evil  nature.  And  this  is 
not  seen  to  be  the  case  with  other 
infidels. 

For  according  to  S.  Thomas  in  the 
Second  of  the  Second ,  question  1  o,  Whether 
every  action  of  an  infidel  is  a  sin;  he 
says  that  the  deeds  of  the  unfaithful 
which  are,  of  themselves,  good,  such 
as  fasting,  almsgiving,  and  deeds  of 
that  sort,  are  no  merit  to  them  because 
of  their  infidelity,  which  is  a  most 
grievous  sin.  Yet  sin  does  not  corrupt 
the  whole  good  of  their  nature,  and 
there  remains  in  them  a  natural  light. 
Therefore  not  every  deed  of  theirs  is 
mortal  sin,  but  only  those  which  pro¬ 
ceed  from  their  very  infidelity,  or  are 
related  to  it.  For  example,  a  Saracen 


Part  I.  Question  15.  MALEFICARUM 


77 


fasts,  to  observe  the  law  of  Mohammed 
as  to  fasting,  and  a  Jew  observes  his 
Feast  days;  but  in  such  things  he  is 
guilty  of  mortal  sin.  And  in  this  way  is 
to  be  understood  the  above  dictum  of 
S.  Augustine,  that  the  whole  life  of 
infidels  is  sin. 

That  Witches  Deserve  the  heaviest  Punish¬ 
ment  above  All  the  Criminals  of  the 
World. 

The  crimes  of  witches,  then,  exceed 
the  sins  of  all  others;  and  we  now 
1  declare  what  punishment  they  deserve, 
whether  as  Heretics  or  as  Apostates. 
Now  Heretics,  according  to  S.  Ray- 
mund,  are  punished  in  various  ways, 
as  by  excommunication,  deposition, 
confiscation  of  their  goods,  and  death. 
The  reader  can  be  fully  informed  con¬ 
cerning  all  these  by  consulting  the  law 
relating  to  the  sentence  of  excommuni¬ 
cation.  Indeed  even  their  followers, 
protectors,  patrons  and  defenders  incur 
the  heaviest  penalties.  For,  besides  the 

gunishment  of  excommunication  in- 
icted  on  them,  Heretics,  together  with 
their  patrons,  protectors  and  defenders, 
and  with  their,  children  to  the  second 
generation  on  the  father  s  side,  and  to 
the  first  degree  on  the  mother’s  side, 
are  admitted  to  no  benefit  or  office  of 
the  Church.  And  if  a  Heretic  have 
Catholic  children,  for  the  heinousness 
of  his  crime  they  are  deprived  of  their 
paternal  inheritance.  And  if  a  man  be 
convicted,  and  refuse  to  be  converted 
and  abjure  his  heresy,  he  must  at  once 
be  burned,  if  he  is  a  layman.  For  if 
they  who  counterfeit  money  are  sum¬ 
marily  put  to  death,  how  much  more 
must  they  who  counterfeit  the  Faith? 
But  if- he  is  a  cleric,  after  solemn 
degradation  he  is  handed  over  to  the 
secular  Court  to  be  put  to  death.  But 
if  they  return  to  the  Faith,  they  are 
to  be  imprisoned,  for  lif$ti  But  m  prac¬ 
tice  they  are  treated  more  leniently 
after  recantation  than  they  should  be 
according  to  the  judgement  of  the 
Bishops  and  the  Inquisition,  as  will  be 
shown  in  the  Third  Part,  where  the 
various  methods  of  sentencing  such  are 
treated  of;  that  is  to  say,  those  who 
are  arrested  and  convicted  and  have 
recanted  their  error. 

But  to  punish  witches  in  these  ways 
does  not  seem  sufficient,  since  they 
are  not  simple  Heretics,  but  Apostates. 
;More  than  this,  in  their  very  apostasy 


they  do  not  deny  the  Faith  for  any  fear 
of  men  or  for  any  delight  of  the  flesh, 
as  has  been  said  before;  but,  apart 
from  their  abnegation,  even  give  hom¬ 
age  to  the  very  devils  by  offering  them 
their  bodies  and  souls.  It  is  clear  enough? 
trom  this  that,  however  much  they  are 
penitent  and  return  to  the  Faith,  they 
must  not  be  punished  like  other  Heretics 
with  lifelong  imprisonment,  but  must 
suffer  the  extreme  penalty.  And  because 
of  the  temporal  injury  which  they  do 
to  men  and  beasts  in  various  ways,  the 
laws  demand  this.  It  is  even  equally 
culpable  to  learn  as  it  is  to  teach  such 
iniquities,  say  the  laws  concerning 
Soothsayers.  Then-  how  much  more 
emphatically  do  they  speak  concerning 
witches,  where  they  say  that  the  penalty 
for  them  is  the  confiscation  of  their 
goods  and  decapitation.  The  laws  also 
say  much  concerning  those  who  by 
witchcraft  provoke  a  woman  to  lust, 
or,  conversely,  cohabit  with  beasts. 
But  these  matters  were  touched  upon 
in  the  First  Question. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XV 

It  is  Shown  that ,  on  account  of  the  Sins  of 
Witches ,  the  Innocent  are  often  Be¬ 
witched ,  yea.  Sometimes  even  for  their 
Own  Sins . 

IT  is  a  fact  that,  by  Divine  permis¬ 
sion,  many  innocent  people  suffer 
loss  and  are  punished  by  the  aforesaid 
plagues,  not  for  their  own  sins,  but 
for  those  of  witches.  And  lest  this 
should  seem  to  any  a  paradox,  S. 
Thomas  shows  in  the  Second  of  the 
Second ,  quest.  8,  that  this  is  just  in 
God.  For  he  divides  the  punishments 
of  this  life  into  three  classes.  First,  one 
man  belongs  to  another;  therefore,  if 
a  man  be  punished  in  his  possessions, 
it  may  be  that  another  man  suffers  for 
his  punishment.  For,  bodily  speaking, 
sons  are  a  property  of  the  father,  and 
slaves  and  animals  are  the  property  of 
their  masters ;  and  so  the  sons  are  some¬ 
times  punished  for  their  parents.  Thus; 
the  son  born  to  David  from  adultery 
quickly  died;  and  the  animals  of  the 
Amalekites  were  bidden  to  be  killed. 
Yet  the  reason  for  these  things  remains 
a  mystery. 

Secondly,  the  sin  of  one  may  be 
passed  on  to  another;  and  this  in  two 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  15. 


78 

ways.  By  imitation,  as  children  imitate 
the  sins  of  their  parents,  and  slaves  and 
dependents  the  sins  of  their  masters, 
that  they  may  sin  more  boldly.  In  this 
way  the  sons  inherit  ill-gotten  gain, 
and  slaves  share  in  robberies  and  unjust 
feuds,  in  which  they  are  often  killed. 
And  they  who  are  subject  to  Governors 
sin  the  more  boldly  when  they  see  them 
sin,  even  if  they  do  not  commit  the 
same  sins;  wherefore  they  are  justly 
punished. 

Also  the  sin  of  one  is  passed  on  to 
another  in  the  way  of  desert,  as  when 
the  sins  of  wicked  subjects  are  passed 
on  to  a  bad  Governor,  because  the  sins 
of  the  subjects  deserve  a  bad  Governor. 
See  Job  :  He  makes  Hypocrites  to  reign 
on  account  of  the  sins  of  the  people. 

Sin,  and  consequently  punishment, 
can  also  be  passed  on  through  some 
consent  or  dissimulation.  For  when 
those  in  authority  neglect  to  reprove 
sin,  then  very  often  the  good  are 
punished  with  the  wicked,  as  S.  Augus¬ 
tine  says  in  the  first  book  de  Ciuitate 
Dei.  An  example  was  brought  to  our 
notice  as  Inquisitors.  A  town  once  was 
rendered  almost  destitute  by  the  death 
of  its  citizens ;  and  there  was  a  rumour 
that  a  certain  buried  woman  was 
gradually  eating  the  shroud  in  which 
she  had  been  buried,  and  that  the 
plague  could  not  cease  until  she  had 
eaten  the  whole  shroud  and  absorbed 
it  into  her  stomach.  A  council  was 
held,  and  the  Podesta  with  the  Governor 
of  the  city  dug  up  the  grave,  and  found 
half  the  shroud  absorbed  through  the 
mouth  and  throat  into  the  stomach, 
and  consumed.  In  horror  at  this  sight, 
the  Podesta  drew  his  sword  and  cut  off 
her  head  and  threw  it  out  of  the  grave, 
and  at  once  the  plague  ceased.  Now 
the  sins  of  that  old  woman  were,  by 
Divine  permission,  visited  upon  the 
innocent  on  account  of  the  dissimula¬ 
tion  of  what  had  happened  before. 
For  when  an  Inquisition  was  held  it 
was  found  that  during  a  long  time  of 
her  life  she  had  been  a  Sorceress  and 
Enchantress.  Another  example  is  the 
punishment  of  a  pestilence  because 
David  numbered  the  people. 

Thirdly,  sin  is  passed  on  by  Divine 
permission  in  commendation  of  the 
unity  of  human  society,  that  one  man 
should  take  care  for  another  by  re¬ 
fraining  from  sin ;  and  also  to  make  sin 
appear  the  more  detestable,  in  that  the 
sin  of  one  redounds  upon  all,  as  though 


all  were  one  body.  An  example  is  the 
sin  of  Achan  in  Joshua  vii. 

We  can  add  to  these  two  other 
methods :  that  the  wicked  are  punished 
sometimes  by  the  good,  and  sometimes 
by  other  wicked  men.  For  as  Gratianus 
says  (XXIII,  5),  sometimes  God  pun¬ 
ishes  the  wicked  through  those  who  are 
exercising  their  legitimate  power  at 
His  command;  and  this  in  two  ways: 
sometimes  with  merit  on  the  part  of 
the  punishers,  as  when  He  punished 
the  sins  of  the  Canaanites  through  His 
people;  sometimes  with  no  merit  on 
the  part  of  the  punishers,  but  even  to 
their  own  punishment,  as  when  He 
punished  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  and 
destroyed  it  except  for  a  few  men. 
And  sometimes  He  punishes  by  His 
nations  being  aroused,  either  by  com¬ 
mand  or  permission,  but  with  no  inten¬ 
tion  of  obeying  God,  but  rather  greedy 
for  their  own  gain,  and  therefore  to 
their  own  damnation ;  as  He  now 
punishes  His  people  by  the  Turks,  and 
did  so  more  often  by  strange  nations 
in  the  Old  Law. 

But  it  must  be  noted  that  for  what¬ 
ever  cause  a  man  be  punished,  if  he 
does  not  bear  his  pains  patiently,  then 
it  becomes  a  scourge,  not  of  correc¬ 
tion,  but  only  of  vengeance,  that  is,  of 
punishment.  See  Deuteronomy  xxxii :  A 
fire  is  kindled  in  mine  anger  (that  is, 
my  punishment;  for  there  is  no  other 
anger  in  God),  and  shall  burn  unto 
the  lowest  hell  (that  is,  vengeance  shall 
begin  here  and  burn  unto  the  last 
damnation,  as  S.  Augustine  explains). 
And  there  is  further  authority  con¬ 
cerning  punishment  in  his  Fourth  Dis¬ 
tinction.  But  if  men  patiently  bear  their 
scourges,  and  are  patient  in  the  state 
of  grace,  they  take  the  place  of  a  cor¬ 
rection,  as  S.  Thomas  says  in  his  Fourth 
Book.  And  this  is  true  even  of  one 
punished  for  committing  witchcraft, 
or  of  a  witch,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree 
according  to  the  devotion  of  the  sufferer 
and  the  quality  of  his  crime. 

But  the  natural  death  of  the  body, 
being  the  last  terror,  is  not  a  correc¬ 
tion,  since  of  its  nature  it  partakes  in 
the  punishment  for  original  sin.  Never¬ 
theless,  according  to  Scotus,  when  it  is 
awaited  with  resignation  and  devotion, 
and  offered  in  its  bitterness  to  God,  it 
can  in  some  way  become  a  correction. 
But  violent  death,  whether  a  man 
deserves  it  or  not,  is  always  a  correc¬ 
tion,  if  it  is  borne  patiently  and  in 


Part  I.  Question  15.  MALEFICARUM 


79 


grace.  S<*  much  for  punishments  in¬ 
flicted  on  account  of  the  sins  of  others. 

But  God  also  punishes  men  in  this 
life  for  their  own  sins,  especially  in  the 
matter  of  bewitchment.  For  see  Tobias 
vii:  The  devil  has  power  over  those 
who  follow  their  lusts.  And  this  is  clear 
from  what  we  have  already  said  con¬ 
cerning  the  member  and  the  genital 
powers,  which  God  chiefly  allows  to  be 
bewitched. 

However,  for  the  purpose  of  preach¬ 
ing  to  the  public  it  is  to  be  noted  that, 
notwithstanding  the  aforesaid  punish¬ 
ments  which  God  inflicts  on  men  for 
their  own  and  others’  sins,  the  preacher 
should  keep  as  his  basic  principle  and 
preach  to  the  people  this  ruling  of  the 
law;  which  says,  No  one  must  be 
punished  without  guilt,  unless  there  is 
some  cause  for  doing  so.  And  this  ruling 
holds  good  in  the  Court  of  Heaven, 
that  is,  of  God,  just  as  it  does  in  the 
human  Courts  of  Justice,  whether 
secular  or  ecclesiastic. 

The  preacher  may  predicate  this  of 
the  Court  of  Heaven.  For  the  punish¬ 
ment  of  God  is  of  two  kinds,  spiritual 
and  temporal.  In  the  former,  punish¬ 
ment  is  never  found  without  guilt.  In 
[the  latter  it  is  sometimes  found  quite 
without  guilt,  but  not  without  cause. 
The  first,  or  spiritual  punishment,  is 
of  three  kinds ;  the  first  being  forfeiture 
of  grace  and  a  consequent  hardening 
in  sin,  which  is  never  inflicted  except 
for  the  sufferer’s  own  guilt.  The  second 
is  the  punishment  of  loss,  that  is,  de¬ 
privation  of  glory,  which  is  never 
inflicted  without  personal  guilt  in 
adults,  or  contracted  guilt  in  children 
born  from  their  parents’  sin.  The  third 
is  the  punishment  of  pain,  that  is,  the 
torture  of  hell  fire,  and  is  plainly  due 
to  guilt.  Wherefore  when  it  is  said  in 
Exodus  xx :  I  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting 
the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children 
unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation: 
it  is  understood  as  speaking  of  the 
imitators  of  their  fathers’  crimes,  as 
Gratian  has  explained,  Book  I,  quest. 

4 ;  where  he  also  gives  other  expositions. 

Now  with  regard  to  God’s  second,  or 
temporal  punishment:  first,  it  may  be, 
as  has  been  said  before,  for  the  sin  of 
another,  or  even  without  personal  sin 
or  that  of  another  (but  not  without 
cause),  or  for  personal  guilt  only,  with¬ 
out  any  other’s  sin.  But  if  you  wish 
to  know  the  causes  for  which  God 
punishes,  and  even  without  any  guilt 


of  the  sufferer  or  of  another  man,  you 
may  refer  to  the  five  methods  which 
the  Master  expounds  in  Book  IV,  dist. 
15,  cap.  2.  And  you  must  take  the 
three  first  causes,  for  the  other  two 
refer  to  personal  guilt. 

For  he  says  that  for  five  causes  God 
scourges  man  in  this  life,  or  inflicts 
punishment.  First,  that  God  mav  be 
glorified ;  and  this  is  when  some  punish¬ 
ment  of  affliction  is  miraculously  re¬ 
moved,  as  in  the  case  of  the  man  born 
blind  (£.  John  ix),  or  of  the  raising  of 
Lazarus  ( S .  John  xi). 

Secondly,  if  the  first  cause  is  absent, 
it  is  sent  that  merit  may  be  acquired 
through  the  exerci§e  of  patience,  and 
also  that  inner  hidden  virtue  may  be 
made  manifest  to  others.  Examples 
are  Job  i  and  Tobias  ii. 

Thirdly,  that  virtue  may  be  pre¬ 
served  through  the  humiliation  of 
castigation.  S.  Paul  is  an  example,  who 
says  of  himself  in  II.  Corinthians  xii : 
There  was  given  unto  me  a  thorn  in 
the  flesh,  the  messenger  of  Satan.  And 
according  to  Remigius  this  thorn  was 
the  infirmity  of  carnal  desire.  These 
are  the  causes  that  are  without  guilt 
in  the  sufferer. 

Fourthly,  that  eternal  damnation 
should  begin  in  this  life,  that  it  might  be 
in  some  way  shown  what  will  be  suffered 
in  hell.  Examples  are  Herod  ( Acts  xii) 
and  Antiochus  (II.  Maccabees  ix). 

Fifthly,  that  man  may  be  purified, 
by  the  expulsion  and  obliteration  of 
his  guilt  through  scourges.  Examples 
may  be  taken  from  Miriam,  Aaron’s 
sister,  who  was  stricken  with  leprosy, 
and  from  the  Israelites  wandering  in 
the  wilderness,  according  to  S.  Jerome, 
XXIII,  4.  Or  it  may  be  for  the  correc¬ 
tion  of  sin,  as  is  exemplified  by  the  case 
of  David,  who,  after  being  pardoned  for 
his  adultery,  was  driven  from  his  king¬ 
dom,  as  is  shown  in  II.  Kings ,  and  is 
commented  on  by  S.  Gregory  in  his 
discourse  on  sin.  It  may,  in  fact,  be 
said  that  every  punishment  that  we 
suffer  proceeds  from  our  own  sin,  or 
at  least  from  the  original  sin  in  which 
we  were  born,  which  is  itself  the  cause 
of  all  causes. 

But  as  to  the  punishment  of  loss, 
meaning  by  that  eternal  damnation 
which  they  will  suffer  in  the  future, 
no  one  doubts  that  all  the  damned  will 
be  tortured  with  grievous  pains.  For 
just  as  grace  is  followed  by  the  blessed 
vision  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  so 


8o 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  16. 


is  mortal  sin  followed  by  punishment  in 
hell.  And  just  as  the  degrees  of  blessed¬ 
ness  in  Heaven  are  measured  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  the  degrees  of  charity  and 
grace  in  life,  so  the  degrees  of  punish¬ 
ment  in  hell  are  measured  according 
to  the  degree  of  crime  in  this  life.  See 
Deuteronomy  xxv :  The  measure  of  punish¬ 
ment  will  be  according  to  the  measure 
of  sin.  And  this  is  so  with  all  other  sins, 
but  applies  especially  to  witches.  See 
Hebrews  x :  Of  how  much  sorer  punish¬ 
ment,  suppose  ye,  shall  he  be  thought 
worthy,  who  hath  trodden  underfoot  the 
Son  of  God,  and  hath  counted  the 
blood  of  the  covenant,  wherewith  he 
was  sanctified,  an  unholy  thing? 

And  such  are  the  sins  of  witches, 
who  deny  the  Faith,  and  work  many 
evil  bewitchments  through  the  most 
Holy  Sacrament,  as  will  be  shown  in 
the  Second  Part. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XVI 

The  Foregoing  Truths  are  Set  out  in 
Particular ,  by  a  Comparison  of  the 
Works  of  Witches  with  Other  Baleful 
Superstitions. 

NOW  the  foregoing  truth  concerning 
the  enormity  of  witches’  crimes  is 
proved  by  comparing  them  with  the 
other  practices  of  Magicians  and 
Diviners.  For  there  are  fourteen  species 
of  magic,  springing  from  the  three 
kinds  of  Divination.  The  first  of 
these  three  is  open  invocation  of 
devils.  The  second  is  no  more  than  a 
silent  consideration  of  the  disposition 
and  movement  of  some  thing,  as  of 
the  stars,  or  the  days,  or  the  hours,  and 
such  things.  The  third  is  the  considera¬ 
tion  of  some  human  act  for  the  purpose 
of  finding  out  something  that  is  hidden, 
and  is  called  by  the  name  of  Sortilege. 

And  the  species  of  the  first  form  of 
Divination,  that  is,  an  open  invocation 
of  devils,  are  the  following  :  Sorcery, 
Oneiromancy,  Necromancy,  Oracles, 
Geomancy,  Hydromancy,  Aeromancy, 
Pyromancy,  and  Soothsaying  (see  S. 
Thomas,  Second  of  the  Second ,  quest. 
95,  26,  and  5).  The  species  of  the 
second  kind  are  Horoscopy,  Haru- 
spicy,  Augury,  Observation  of  Omens, 
Cheiromancy  and  Spatulamancy. 

The  species  of  the  third  kind  vary 
according  to  all  those  things  which  are 


classed  as  Sortilege  for  the  finding  out 
of  something  hidden,  such  as  the  con¬ 
sideration  of  pricks  and  straws,  and 
figures  in  molten  lead.  And  S.  Thomas 
speaks  also  of  these  in  the  above-quoted 
reference. 

Now  the  sins  of  witches  exceed  all 
these  crimes,  as  will  be  proved  in 
respect  of  the  foregoing  species.  There 
can  then  be  no  question  concerning 
smaller  crimes. 

For  let  us  consider  the  first  species, 
in  which  those  who  are  skilled  in 
sorcery  and  glamour  deceive  the  human 
senses  with  certain  apparitions,  so  that 
corporeal  matter  seems  to  become 
different  to  the  sight  and  the  touch,  as 
was  treated  of  above  in  tfie  matter  of 
the  methods  of  creating  illusions. 
Witches  are  not  content  with  such 
practices  in  respect  of  the  genital 
member,  causing  some  prestidigitatory 
illusion  of  its  disappearance  (although 
this  disappearance  is  not  an  actual 
fact) ;  but  they  even  frequently  take 
away  the  generative  power  itself,  so 
that  a  woman  cannot  conceive,  and  a 
man  cannot  perform  the  act  even  when 
he  still  retains  his  member.  And 
without  any  illusion,  they  also  cause 
abortion  after  conception,  often  accom¬ 
panied  with  many  other  ills.  And  theyji 
even  appear  in  various  forms  of  beasts  Jl 
as  has  been  shown  above. 

Necromancy  is  the  summoning  of 
and  speech  with  the  dead,  as  is  shown 
by  its  etymology ;  for  it  is  derived  from 
the  Greek  word  Nekros,  meaning  a 
corpse,  and  Manteia ,  meaning  divina¬ 
tion.  And  they  accomplish  this  by 
working  some  spell  over  the  blood  of  a 
man  or  some  animal,  knowing  that  the 
devil  delights  in  such  sin,  and  loves 
blood  and  the  pouring  out  of  blood. 
Wherefore,  when  they  think  that  they 
call  the  dead  from  hell  to  answer  their 
questions,  it  is  the  devils  in  the  likeness 
of  the  dead  who  appear  and  give  such 
answers.  And  of  this  sort  was  the  art 
of  that  great  Pythoness  spoken  of  in 
I.  Kings  xxviii,  who  raised  up  Samuel  at 
the  instance  of  Saul. 

But  let  no  one  think  that  such 
practices  are  lawful  because  the  Scrip¬ 
ture  records  that  the  soul  of  the  just 
Prophet,  summoned  from  Hades  to 
predict  the  event  of  Saul’s,  coming  war, 
appeared  through  the  means  of  a 
woman  who  was  a  witch.  For,  as 
S.  Augustine  says  to  Simplici  anus : 
It  is  not  absurd  to  believe  that  it  was 


Part  I.  Question  16.  MALEFICARUM 


81 


permitted  by  some  dispensation,  not 
by  the  potency  of  any  magic  art,  but  by 
some  hidden  dispensation  unknown  to 
the  Pythoness  or  to  Saul,  that  the  spirit 
of  that  just  man  should  appear  before 
the  sight  of  the  king,  to  deliver  the 
Divine  sentence  against  him.  Or  else  it 
was  not  really  the  spirit  of  Samuel 
aroused  from  its  rest,  but  some  phan¬ 
tasm  and  imaginary  illusion  of  devils 
caused  by  the  machinations  of  the 
devil ;  and  the  Scripture  calls  that 
phantasm  by  the  name  of  Samuel,  just 
as  the  images  of  things  are  called  by 
the  names  of  the  things  they  repre¬ 
sent.*  This  he  says  in  his  answer  to 
the  question  whether  divination  by  the 
invocation  of  devils  is  lawful.  In  the 
same  Summa  the  reader  will  find  the 
answer  to  the  question  whether  there 
are  degrees  of  prophecy  among  the 
Blessed ;  and  he  may  refer  to  S.  Augus¬ 
tine,  XXVI,  5.  But  this  has  little  to  do 
with  the  deeds  of  witches,  which  retain 
in  themselves  no  vestige  of  piety,  as  is 
apparent  from  a  consideration  of  their 
works;  for  they  do  not  cease  to  shed 
innocent  blood,  to  bring  hidden  things 
to  light  under  the  guidance  of  devils, 
and  by  destroying  the  soul  with  the  body 
spare  neither  the  living  nor  the  dead. 

Oneiromancy  maybe  practised  in  two 
ways.  The  first  is  when  a  person  uses 
dreams  so  that  he  may  dip  into  the 
occult  with  the  help  of  the  revelation 
of  devils  invoked  by  him,  with  whom 
he  has  entered  into  an  open  pact.  The 
second  is  when  a  man  uses  dreams  for 
knowing  the  future,  in  so  far  as  there  is 
such  virtue  in  dreams  proceeding  from 
Divine  revelation,  from  a  natural 
intrinsic  or  extrinsic  cause;  and  such 
divination  would  not  be  unlawful.  So 
says  S.  Thomas. 

And  that  preachers  may  have  at 
least  the  nucleus  of  an  understanding 
of  this  matter,  we  must  first  speak  about 
the  Angels.  An  Angel  is  of  limited 
power,  and  can  more  effectively  reveal 
the  future  when  the  mind  is  adapted 
to  such  revelations  than  when  it  is  not. 
Now  the  mind  is  chiefly  so  adapted  after 
the  relaxation  of  exterior  and  interior 
movement,  as  when  nights  are  silent 
and  the  fumes  of  motion  are  quieted ; 
and  these  conditions  are  fulfilled  round 


*  “ Represent .”  For  a  full  discussion  of  the 
appearance  of  Samuel  at  Endor,  see  my 
I  of  Witchcraft ,”  c.v.:  “ The  Witch 

i-rmryp.  176-81. 


about  the  dawn,  when  digestion  is  com¬ 
pleted.  And  I  say  this  of  us  who  are 
sinners,  to  whom  the  Angels  in  their 
Divine  piety,  and  in  the  execution  of 
their  offices,  reveal  certain  things,  so 
that  when  we  study  at  the  time  of  the 
dawn  we  are  given  an  understanding  of 
certain  occult  matters  in  the  Scriptures. 
For  a  good  Angel  presides  over  our 
understanding,  just  as  God  does  over 
our  will,  and  the  stars  over  our  bodies. 
But  to  certain  more  perfect  men  the 
Angel  can  at  any  hour  reveal  things, 
whether  they  are  awake  or  asleep. 
However,  according  to  Aristotle,  de 
Somno  et  Uigilia ,  such  men  are  more  apt 
to  receive  revelations  at  one  time  than 
at  another;  and  this  is  the  case  in  all 
matters  of  Magic. 

Secondly,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  it 
happens  through  Nature’s  care  for 
and  regulation  of  the  body,  that  certain 
future  events  have  their  natural  cause 
in  a  man’s  dreams.  And  then  those 
dreams  or  visions  are  not  causes,  as  was 
said  in  the  case  of  Angels,  but  only  signs 
of  that  which  is  coming  to  a  man  in  the 
future,  such  as  health  or  sickness  or 
danger.  And  this  is  the  opinion  of 
Aristotle.  For  in  the  dreams  of  the  spirit 
Nature  images  the  disposition  of  the 
heart,  by  which  sickness  or  some  other 
thing  naturally  comes  to  a  man  in  the 
future.  For  if  a  man  dreams  of  fires,  it 
is  a  sign  of  a  choleric  disposition ;  if  of 
flying  or  some  such  thing,  it  is  a  sign 
of  a  sanguine  disposition ;  if  he  dreams 
of  water  or  some  other  liquid,  it  is  a 
sign  of  a  phlegmatic,  and  if  he  dreams 
of  terrene  matters,  it  is  a  sign  of  a 
melancholy  disposition.  And  therefore 
doctors  are  very  often  helped  by 
dreams  in  their  diagnosis  (as  Aristotle 
says  in  the  same  book). 

But  these  are  slight  matters  in  com¬ 
parison  with  the  unholy  dreams  of 
witches.  For  when  they  do  not  wish/  | 
as  has  been  mentioned  above,  to  be 
bodily  transferred  to  a  place,  but  desire 
to  see  what  their  fellow-witches  are; 
doing,  it  is  their  practice  to  lie  down  on 
their  left  side  in  the  name  of  their  own 
and  of  all  devils;  and  these  things  are 
revealed  to  their  vision  in  images.  And 
if  they  seek  to  know  some  secret,  either 
for  themselves  or  for  others,  they  learn 
it  in  dreams  from  the  devil,  by  reason 
of  an  open,  not  a  tacit,  pact  entered 
into  with  him.  And  this  pact,  again,  is 
not  a  symbolical  one,  accomplished  by 
the  sacrifice  of  some  animal,  or  some  act 


“  History 
in  Holy 


82 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  17. 


of  sacrilege,  or  by  embracing  the  wor¬ 
ship  of  some  strange  cult ;  but  it  is  an 
actual  offering  of  themselves,  body  and 
soul,  to  the  devil,  by  a  sacrilegiously 
uttered  and  inwardly  purposed  abnega¬ 
tion  of  the  Faith.  And  not  content  with 
this,  they  even  kill,  or  offer  to  devils, 
their  own  and  others’  children. 

(Another  species  of  divination  is 
practised  by  Pythons,  so  called  from 
Pythian  Apollo,  who  is  said  to  have 
Been  the  originator  of  this  kind  of 
divination,  according  to  S.  Isidore.  This 
is  not  effected  by  dreams  or  by  con¬ 
verse  with  the  dead,  but  by  means  of 
living  men,  as  in  the  case  of  those  who 
are  lashed  into  a  frenzy  by  the  devil, 
either  willingly  or  unwillingly,  only 
for  the  purpose  of  foretelling  the  future, 
and  not  for  the  perpetration  of  any 
other  monstrosities.  Of  this  sort  was 
the  girl  mentioned  in  Actsxv i,  who  cried 
after  the  Apostles  that  they  were  the 
servants  of  the  true  God ;  and  S.  Paul, 
being  angered  by  this,  commanded  the 
spirit  to  come  out  of  her.  But  it  is  clear 
that  there  is  no  comparison  between 
such  things  and  the  deeds  of  witches, 
who,  according  to  S.  Isidore,  are  so 
called  for  the  magnitude  Of  their  sins 
and  the  enormity  of  their  crimes. 

Wherefore,  for  the  sake  of  brevity, 
there  is  no  need  to  continue  this 
argument  in  respect  of  the  minor  forms 
of  divination,  since  it  has  been  proved 
in  respect  of  the  major  forms.  For  the 
preacher  may,  if  he  wishes,  apply  these 
arguments  to  the  other  forms  of 
divination :  to  Geomancy,  which  is 
concerned  with  terrene  matters,  such 
as  iron  or  polished  stone ;  Hydromancy, 
which  deals  with  water  and  crystals; 
Aeromancy,  which  is  concerned  with 
the  air ;  Pyromancy,  which  is  concerned 
with  fire;  Soothsaying,  which  has  to 
do  with  the  entrails  of  animals  sacri¬ 
ficed  on  the  devil’s  altars.  For  although 
all  these  are  done  by  means  of  open 
invocation  of  devils,  they  cannot  be 
compared  with  the  crimes  of  witches, 
since  they  are  not  directly  purposed  for 
the  harming  of  men  or  animals  or  the 
fruits  of  the  earth,  but  only  for  the 
foreknowledge  of  the  future.  The  other 
species  of  divination,  which  are  per¬ 
formed  with  a  tacit,  but  not  an  open, 
invocation  of  devils,  are  Horoscopy,  or 
Astrology,  so  called  from  the  considera¬ 
tion  of  the  stars  at  birth ;  Haruspicy, 
which  observes  the  days  and  hours; 
Augury,  which  observes  the  behaviour 


and  cries  of  birds;  Omens,  which 
observe  the  words  of  men ;  and  Cheiro¬ 
mancy,  which  observes  the  lines  of  the 
hand,  or  of  the  paws  of  animals.  Any¬ 
one  who  wishes  may  refer  to  the  teach¬ 
ing  ofNider,  and  he  will  find  much  as  to 
when  such  things  are  lawful  and  when 
they  are  not.  But  the  works  of  witches 
are  never  lawful. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XVII 

A  Comparison  of  their  Crimes  under  Four¬ 
teen  Heads ,  with  the  Sins  of  the  Devils 
of  all  and  every  Kind. 

SO  heinous  are  the  crimes  of  witches 
that  they  even  exceed  the  sins  and 
the  fall  of  the  bad  Angels ;  and  if  this 
is  true  as  to  their  guilt,  how  should  it 
not  also  be  true  of  their  punishments  in 
hell?  And  it  is  not  difficult  to  prove 
this  by  various  arguments  with  regard 
to  their  guilt.  And  first,  although  the 
sin  of  Satan  is  unpardonable,  this  is 
not  on  account  of  the  greatness  of  his 
crime,  having  regard  to  the  nature  of 
the  Angels,  with  particular  attention 
to  the  opinion  of  those  who  say  that  the 
Angels  were  created  only  in  a  state  of 
nature,  and  never  in  a  state  of  grace. 
And  since  the  good  of  grace  exceeds 
the  good  of  nature,  therefore  the  sins 
of  those  who  fall  from  a  state  of  grace, 
as  do  the  witches  by  denying  the  faith 
which  they  received  in  baptism,  exceed 
the  sins  of  the  Angels.  And  even  if  we 
say  that  the  Angels  were  created,  but 
not  confirmed,  in  grace ;  so  also  witches, 
though  they  are  not  created  in  grace, 
have  yet  of  their  own  will  fallen  from 
grace;  just  as  Satan  sinned  of  his  own 
will. 

Secondly,  it  is  granted  that  Satan’s 
sin  is  unpardonable  for  various  other 
reasons.  For  S.  Augustine  says  that  he 
sinned  at  the  instigation  of  none,  there¬ 
fore  his  sin  is  justly  remediable  by  none. 
And  S.  John  Damascene  says  that  he 
sinned  in  his  understanding  against  the 
character  of  God ;  and  that  his  sin  was 
the  greater  by  reason  of  the  nobility  of 
his  understanding.  For  the  servant  who 
knows  the  will  of  his  master,  etc.  The 
same  authority  says  that,  since  Satan  is 
incapable  of  repentance,  therefore  he  is 
incapable  of  pardon ;  and  this  is  due  to 
his  very  nature,  which,  being  spiritual, 
could  only  be  changed  once,  when  he 


Part  I.  Question  17.  MALEFICARUM 


83 


changed  it  for  ever;  but  this  is  not  so 
with  men,  in  whom  the  flesh  is  always 
warring  against  the  spirit.  Or  because 
he  sinned  m  the  high  places  of  heaven, 
whereas  man  sins  in  the  earth. 

But  notwithstanding  all  this,  his  sin 
is  in  many  respects  small  in  comparison 
with  the  crimes  of  witches.  First,  as  S. 
Anselm*  showed  in  one  of  his  Sermons , 
he  sinned  in  his  pride  while  there  was 
r  yet  no  punishment  for  sin.  But  witches 
j  continue  to  sin  after  great  punishments 
have  been  often  inflicted  upon  many 
other  witches,  and  after  the  punishments 
which  the  Church  teaches  them  have 
been  inflicted  by  reason  of  the  devil  and 
his  fall ;  and  they  make  light  of  all  these, 
and  hasten  to  commit,  not  the  least 
deadly  of  sins,  as  do  other  sinners  who 
sin  through  infirmity  or  wickedness  yet 
not  from  habitual  malice,  but  rather 
the  most  horrible  crimes  from  the  deep 
malice  of  their  hearts. 

Secondly,  although  the  Bad  Angel 
fell  from  innocence  to  guilt,  and  thence 
to  misery  and  punishment;  yet  he  fell 
from  innocence  once  only,  in  such  a 
way  that  he  was  never  restored.  But 
the  sinner  who  is  restored  to  innocence 
by  baptism,  and  again  falls  from  it, 
falls  very  deep.  And  this  is  especially 
true  of  witches,  as  is  proved  by  their 
crimes. 

Thirdly,  he  sinned  against  the 
Creator ;  but  we.  and  especially  witches, 
sin  against  the  Creator  and  the  Re¬ 
deemer. 

Fourthly,  he  forsook  God,  who  per¬ 
mitted  him  to  sin  but  accorded  him  no 
pity;  whereas  we,  and  witches  above 

*  “S.  Anselm .”  Doctor  of  the  Church; 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury ,  born  at  Aosta,  a 
Burgundian  town  in  the  borders  of  Lombardy, 
1 033-34;  died  21  April,  nog .  High  praise  is 
given  him  in  the  Breviary  Office  for  his  Feast , 
21  April,  Second  Nocturn  of  Matins,  Lection 
VI:  i(Obdormiuit  in  Domino,  famam  non  solum 
miraculorum  et  sanctitatis  ( praecipue  ob  insignem 
deuotionem  erga  Domini  nostri  passionem,  et 
beatam  Virginem  eius  Matrem)  assecutus,  sed 
etiam  doctrinae,  quam  ad  defensionem  Christianae 
religionis,  animarum  profectum,  et  omnium 
theologorum,  qui  sacras  litteras  scholastica 
methodo  tradiderunt,  normam  coelitus  hausisse  ex 
eius  omnibus  apparet .”  There  are  several 
collections  of  the  works  of  S.  Anselm,  but  of 
these  few,  if  any,  can  claim  to  be  critical,  and 
none  are  adapted  for  modern  requirements .  At 
the  same  time  there  are  very  numerous  separate 
editions,  and  even  translations  of  the  more 
important  treatises,  in  particular  the  “ Cur  Deus 
Homo ” 


all,  withdraw  ourselves  from  God  by 
our  sins,  while,  in  spite  of  his  permis¬ 
sion  of  our  sins,  He  continually  pities 
us  and  prevents  us  with  His  countless 
benefits. 

Fifthly,  when  he  sinned,  God  re¬ 
jected  him  without  showing  him  any 
grace;  whereas  we  wretches  run  into 
sin  although  God  is  continually  calling 
us  back. 

Sixthly,  he  keeps  his  heart  hardened 
against  a  punisher;  but  we  against  a 
merciful  persuader.  Both  sin  against 
God;  but  he  against  a  commanding 
God,  and  we  against  One  who  dies  for 
us,  Whom,  as  we  have  said,  wicked 
witches  offend  above  all. 

The  Solutions  of  the  Arguments  again 
Declare  the  Truth  by  Comparison. 

To  the  arguments.  The  answer  to 
the  first  is  clear  from  what  was  said  in 
the  beginning  of  this  whole  question. 
It  was  submitted  that  one  sin  ought  to 
be  thought  heavier  than  another;  and 
that  the  sins  of  witches  are  heavier  than 
all  others  in  respect  of  guilt,  but  not  in 
respect  of  the  penalties  that  they  entail. 
To  this  it  must  be  said  that  the  punish¬ 
ment  of  Adam,  just  as  his  guilt,  may  be 
considered  in  two  ways ;  either  as 
touching  him  personally,  or  as  touching 
the  whole  of  nature,  that  is,  the  pos¬ 
terity  which  came  after  him.  As  to  the 
first,  greater  sins  have  been  committed 
after  Adam ;  for  he  sinned  only  in  doing 
that  which  was  evil,  not  in  itself,  but 
because  it  was  forbidden :  but  fornica¬ 
tion,  adultery,  and  murder  are  in  both 
senses  sins  in  themselves,  and  because 
they  are  forbidden.  Therefore  such  sins 
deserve  the  heavier  punishment. 

As  to  the  second,  it  is  true  that  the 
greatest  punishment  resulted  from  the 
first  sin ;  but  this  is  only  indirectly  true, 
in  that  through  Adam  all  posterity  was 
infected  with  original  sin,  and  he  was 
the  first  father  of  all  those  for  whom  the 
Only  Son  of  God  was  able  to  atone  by 
the  power  which  was  ordained.  More¬ 
over,  Adam  in  his  own  person,  with  the 
mediation  of  Divine  grace,  repented, 
and  was  afterwards  saved  through  the 
Sacrifice  of  Christ.  But  the  sins  of 
witches  are  incomparably  greater,  since 
they  are  not  content  with  their  own  sins 
and  perdition,  but  ever  draw  countless 
others  after  them. 

And  thirdly,  it  follows  from  what  has 
been  said  that  it  was  by  accident  that 


84 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  18. 


Adam’s  sin  involved  the  greater  injury. 
For  he  found  nature  uncorrupted,  and 
it  was  inevitable,  and  not  of  his  own 
will,  that  he  left  it  defiled ;  therefore  it 
does  not  follow  that  his  sin  was  in¬ 
trinsically  greater  than  others.  And 
again,  posterity  would  have  committed 
the  same  sin  if  it  had  found  nature  in  the 
same  state.  Similarly,  he  who  has  not 
found  grace  does  not  commit  so  deadly 
a  sin  as  he  who  has  found  it  and  lost  it. 
This  is  the  solution  of  S.  Thomas  (II, 
21,  art.  2),  in  his  solution  of  the  second 
argument.  And  if  anyone  wishes  fully 
to  understand  this  solution,  he  must 
consider  that  even  if  Adam  had  kept  his 
original  innocence,  he  would  not  have 
assed  it  down  to  all  posterity;  for,  as 
.  Anselm  says,  anyone  coming  after  him 
could  still  have  sinned.  See  also  S. 
Thomas,  dist.  20,  where  he  considers 
whether  new-born  children  would  have 
been  confirmed  in  grace ;  and  in  dist. 

1 01,  whether  men  who  are  now  saved 
would  have  been  saved  if  Adam  had  not 
sinned. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XVIII 

Here  follows  the  Method  of  Preaching 
against  and  Controverting  Five  Argu¬ 
ments  of  Laymen  and  Lewd  Folk ,  which 
seem  to  be  Variously  Approved ,  that 
God  does  not  Allow  so  Great  Power  to 
the  Devil  and  Witches  as  is  Involved  in 
the  Performance  of  such  Mighty  Works 
of  Witchcraft. 

FINALLY,  let  the  preacher  be 
armed  against  certain  arguments 
of  laymen,  and  even  of  some  learned 
men,  who  deny,  up  to  a  certain  point, 
that  there  are  witches.  For,  although 
they  concede  the  malice  and  power  of 
the  devil  to  inflict  such  evils  at  his  will, 
they  deny  that  the  Divine  permission  is 
granted  to  him,  and  will  not  admit  that 
God  allows  such  things  to  be  done. 
And  although  they  have  no  method  in 
their  argument,  groping  blindly  now 
this  way  and  now  that,  it  is  yet  neces¬ 
sary  to  reduce  their  assertions  to  five 
arguments,  from  which  all  their  cavil¬ 
lings  proceed.  And  the  first  is,  that 
God  does  not  permit  the  devil  to  rage 
against  men  with  such  great  power. 

The  question  put  is  whether  the 
Divine  permission  must  always  accom¬ 
pany  an  infliction  caused  by  the  devil 
through  a  witch.  And  five  arguments 


are  submitted  to  prove  that  God  does 
not  permit  it,  and  that  therefore  there  is 
no  witchcraft  in  the  world.  And  the 
first  argument  is  taken  from  God;  the 
second  from  the  devil;  the  third  from 
the  witch ;  the  fourth  from  the  affliction 
ascribed  to  witchcraft;  and  the  fifth 
from  preachers  and  judges,  on  the 
assumption  that  they  have  so  preached 
against  and  punished  witches  that  they 
would  have  no  security  in  life. 

And  first  as  follows :  God  can  punish 
men  for  their  sins,  and  He  punishes 
with  the  sword,  famine,  and  pestilence ; 
as  well  as  with  various  and  countless 
other  infirmities  to  which  human 
nature  is  subject.  Wherefore,  there 
being  no  need  for  Him  to  add  further 
punishments,  He  does  not  permit 
witchcraft. 

Secondly,  if  that  which  is  said  of  the 
devil  were  true,  namely,  that  he  can 
obstruct  the  generative  forces  so  that  a 
woman  cannot  conceive,  or  that  if  she 
does  conceive,  he  can  cause  an  abor¬ 
tion  ;  or,  if  there  is  no  abortion,  he  can 
cause  the  children  to  be  killed  after 
birth ;  in  that  case  he  would  be  able  to 
destroy  the  whole  world;  and  it  could 
also  be  said  that  the  devil’s  works  were 
stronger  than  God’s,  since  the  Sacra¬ 
ment  of  matrimony  is  a  work  of  God. 

Thirdly,  they  argue  from  man  him¬ 
self,  that  if  there  were  any  witchcraft  in 
the  world,  then  some  men  would  be 
more  bewitched  than  others;  and  that 
it  is  a  false  argument  to  say  that  men 
are  bewitched  for  a  punishment  of  their 
sins,  and  therefore  false  to  maintain 
that  there  is  witchcraft  in  the  world. 
And  they  prove  that  it  is  false  by  argu¬ 
ing  that,  if  it  were  true,  then  the  greater 
sinners  would  receive  the  greater  pun¬ 
ishment,  and  that  this  is  not  the  case; 
for  sinners  are  less  punished  sometimes 
than  the  just,  as  is  Seen  in  the  case  of 
innocent  children  who  are  alleged  to  be 
bewitched. 

Their  fourth  argument  can  be  added 
to  that  which  they  adduce  concerning 
God;  namely,  that  a  thing  which  a 
man  can  prevent  and  does  not  prevent, 
but  allows  it  to  be  done,  may  be  judged 
to  proceed  from  his  will.  But  since  God 
is  All-Good,  He  cannot  wish  evil,  and 
therefore  cannot  permit  evil  to  be  done 
which  He  is  able  to  prevent. 

Again,  taking  their  argument  from 
the  infliction  itself,  which  is  alleged  to 
be  due  to  witchcraft ;  they  submit  that 
they  are  similar  to  natural  infirmities 


Part  I.  Question  18.  MALEFICARUM 


85 


and  defects,  and  may  therefore  be 
caused  by  a  natural  detect.  For  it  may 
happen  through  some  natural  defect 
that  a  man  becomes  lame,  or  blind, 
or  loses  his  reason,  or  even  dies ;  where¬ 
fore  such  things  cannot  confidently  be 
ascribed  to  witches. 

Lastly,  they  argue  that  preachers  and 
judges  have  preached  and  practised 
against  witches  in  such  a  way  that,  if 
there  were  witches,  their  lives  would 
never  be  safe  from  them  on  account  of 
the  great  hatred  that  witches  would 
have  for  them. 

But  the  contrary  arguments  may  be 
taken  from  the  First  Question,  where  it 
treats  of  the  third  postulate  of  the  First 
Part;  and  those  points  may  be  pro- 
ounded  to  the  people  which  are  most 
tting.  How  God  permits  evil  to  be, 
even  though  He  does  not  wish  it;  but 
He  permits  it  for  the  wonderful  per¬ 
fecting  of  the  universe,  which  may  be 
considered  in  the  fact  that  good  things 
are  more  highly  commendable,  are 
more  pleasing  and  laudable,  when 
they  are  compared  with  bad  things; 
and  authority  can  be  quoted  in  support 
of  this.  Also  that  the  depth  of  God’s 
Divine  wisdom,  justice,  and  goodness 
should  be  shown  forth,  whereas  it  would 
otherwise  remain  hidden. 

For  a  brief  settlement  of  this  question 
there  are  various  treatises  available  on 
this  subject  for  the  information  of  the 
people,  to  the  effect,  namely,  that  God 
justly  permitted  two  Falls,  that  of  the 
Angels  and  that  of  our  first  parents; 
and  since  these  were  the  greatest  of  all 
falls,  it  is  no  matter  for  wonder  if  other 
smaller  ones  are  permitted.  But  it  is  in 
their  consequences  that  those  two  Falls 
were  the  greatest,  not  in  their  circum¬ 
stances,  in  which  last  respect,  as  was 
shown  in  the  last  Question,  the  sins  of 
witches  exceed  those  of  the  bad  angels 
and  our  first  parents.  In  the  same 
place  it  is  shown  how  God  justly  per¬ 
mitted  those  first  Falls,  and  anyone  is 
at  liberty  to  collect  and  enlarge  upon 
what  is  there  said  as  much  as  he  wishes. 

But  we  must  answer  their  arguments. 
As  to  the  first,  that  God  punishes  quite 
enough  by  means  of  natural  diseases, 
and  by  sword  and  famine,  we  make  a 
threefold  answer.  First,  that  God  did 
not  limit  His  power  to  the  processes  of 
nature,  or  even  to  the  influences  of  the 
stars,  in  such  a  way  that  He  cannot  go 
beyond  those  limits;  for  He  has  often 
exceeded  them  in  the  punishment  of 


sins,  by  sending  plagues  and  other 
afflictions  beyond  all  the  influence  of 
the  stars ;  as  when  He  punished  the  sin 
of  pride  in  David,  when  he  numbered 
the  people,  by  sending  a  pestilence  upon 
the  people. 

Secondly,  it  agrees  with  the  Divine 
wisdom  that  He  should  so  govern  all 
things  that  He  allows  them  to  act  at 
their  own  instigation.  Consequently, 
it  is  not  His  purpose  to  prevent  alto¬ 
gether  the  malice  of  the  devil,  but 
rather  to  permit  it  as  far  as  He  sees  it 
to  be  for  the  ultimate  good  of  the 
universe;  although  it  is  true  that  the 
devil  is  continually  held  in  check  by  the 
good  Angels,  so  that  he  may  not  do  all 
the  harm  that  he  wishes.  Similarly  He 
does  not  propose  to  restrain  the  human 
sins  which  are  possible  to  man  through 
his  free-will,  such  as  the  abnegation  of 
the  Faith  and  the  devotion  of  himself  to 
the  devil,  which  things  are  in  the  power 
of  the  human  will.  From  these  two 
premisses  it  follows  that,  when  God  is 
most  offended,  He  justly  permits  those 
evils  which  are  chiefly  sought  for  by 
witches,  and  for  which  they  deny  the 
Faith,  up  to  the  extent  of  the  devil’s 
power ;  and  such  is  the  ability  to 
injure  men,  animals,  and  the  fruits  of 
the  earth. 

Thirdly,  God  justly  permits  those 
evils  which  indirectly  cause  the  greatest 
uneasiness  and  torment  to  the  devil; 
and  of  such  a  sort  are  those  evils  which 
are  done  by  witches  through  the  power 
of  devils.  For  the  devil  is  indirectly 
tormented  very  greatiy  when  he  sees 
that,  against  his  will,  God  uses  all 
evil  for  the  glory  of  His  name,  for  the 
commendation  of  the  Faith,  for  the 
purgation  of  the  elect,  and  for  the 
acquisition  of  merit.  For  it  is  certain 
that  nothing  can  be  more  galling  to 
the  pride  of  the  devil,  which  he  always 
rears  up  against  God  (as  it  is  said :  The 
pride  of  them  that  hate  Th*ee  increases 
ever),  than  that  God  should  convert 
his  evil  machinations  to  His  own  glory. 
Therefore  God  justly  permits  all  these 
things. 

Their  second  argument  has  been 
answered  before;  but  there  are  two 
points  in  it  which  must  be  answered  in 
detail.  In  the  first  place,  far  from  its 
being  true  that  the  devil,  or  his  works, 
are  stronger  than  God,  it  is  apparent 
that  his  power  is  small,  since  he  can  do 
nothing  without  the  Divine  permission. 
Therefore  it  may  be  said  that  the  devil’s 


86 


MALLEUS 


Part  I.  Question  18. 


Sower  is  small  in  comparison  with  the 
>ivine  permission,  although  it  is  very 
great  in  comparison  with  earthly 
powers,  which  it  naturally  excels,  as  is 
shown  in  the  often  quoted  text  in  Job 
xi:  There  is  no  power  on  earth  to  be 
compared  with  him. 

In  the  second  place,  we  must  answer 
the  question  why  God  permits  witch¬ 
craft  to  affect  the  generative  powers 
more  than  any  other  human  function. 
This  has  been  dealt  with  above,  under 
the  title,  How  witches  can  obstruct  the 
generative  powers  and  the  venereal 
act.  For  it  is  on  account  of  the  shame¬ 
fulness  of  that  act,  and  because  the 
original  sin  due  to  the  guilt  of  our  first 
parents  is  inherited  by  means  of  that 
act.  It  is  symbolized  also  by  the  serpent, 
who  was  the  first  instrument  of  the 
devil. 

To  their  third  argument  we  answer 
that  the  devil  has  more  intention  and 
desire  to  tempt  the  good  than  the 
wicked ;  although  he  does  in  fact  tempt 
the  wicked  more  than  the  good,  for  the 
reason  that  the  wicked  have  more 
aptitude  than  the  good  to  respond  to 
his  temptation.  In  the  same  way,  he 
is  more  eager  to  injure  the  good  than 
the  bad,  but  he  finds  it  easier  to  injure 
the  wicked.  And  the  reason  for  this  is, 
according  to  S.  Gregory,  that  the  more 
often  a  man  gives  way  to  the  devil, 
the  harder  he  makes  it  for  himself  to 
struggle  against  him.  But  since  it  is 
the  wicked  who  most  often  give  way 
to  the  devil,  their  temptations  are  the 
hardest  and  most  frequent,  as  they 
have  not  the  shield  of  Faith  with  which 
to  protect  themselves.  Concerning  this 
shield  S.  Paul  speaks  in  Ephesians  vi. 
Above  all,  taking  the  shield  of  faith, 
wherewith  ye  shall  be  able  to  quench 
all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked.  But 
on  the  other  hand,  he  assails  the  good 
more  bitterly*  than  the  wicked.  And 
the  reason  for  this  is  that  he  already 
possesses  the  wicked,  but  not  the  good ; 
and  therefore  he  tries  the  harder  to 
draw  into  his  power  through  tribulation 
the  just,  who  are  not  his,  than  the 
wicked,  who  are  already  his.  In  the 
same  way,  an  earthly  prince  more 
severely  chastises  those  who  disobey 
his  laws,  or  injure  his  kingdom,  than 
those  who  do  not  set  themselves  against 
him.  , 

In  answer  to  their  fourth  argument, 
in  addition  to  what  has  already  been 
written  on  this  subject,  the  preacher 


can  expound  the  truth  that  God  permits 
evil  to  be  done,  but  does  not  wish  it  to 
be  done,  by  the  five  signs  of  the  Divine 
will,  which  are  Precept,  Prohibition, 
Advice,  Operation,  and  Permission. 
See  S.  Thomas,  especially  in  his  First 
Part,  quest.  19,  art.  12,  where  this  is 
very  plainly  set  forth.  For  although 
there  is  only  one  will  in  God,  which  is 
God  Himself,  just  as  His  Essence  is 
One;  yet  in  respect  of  its  fulfilment, 
His  will  is  shown  and  signified  to  us  in 
many  ways,  as  the  Psalm  says:  The 
mighty  works  of  the  Lord -are  fulfilled 
in  all  His  wishes.  Wherefore  there  is  a 
distinction  between  the  actual  essential 
Will  of  God  and  its  visible  effects ;  even 
as  the  will,  properly  so  called,  is  the  will 
of  a  man’s  good  pleasure,  but  in  a  meta¬ 
phorical  sense  it  is  the  will  expressed  by 
outward  signs.  For  it  is  by  signs  and 
metaphors  that  we  are  shown  that  God 
wishes  this  to  be. 

We  may  take  an  example  from  a 
human  father  who,  while  he  has  only 
one  will  in  himself,  expresses  that  will  in 
five  ways,  either  by  his  own  agency,  or 
through  that  of  someone  else.  Through 
his  own  agency  he  expresses  it  in  two 
ways,  either  directly  or  indirectly. 
Directly,  when  he  himself  does  a  thing ; 
and  then  it  is  Operation.  Indirectly, 
when  he  does  not  hinder  someone  else 
from  acting  (see  Aristotle’s  Physics ,  IV : 
Prohibition  is  indirect  causation),  and 
this  is  called  the  sign  of  Permission. 
And  the  human  father  signifies  his  will 
through  the  agency  of  someone  else  in 
three  ways.  Either  he  orders  someone 
to  do  something,  or  conversely  forbids 
something;  and  these  are  the  signs  of 
Precept  and  Prohibition.  Or  he  per¬ 
suades  and  advises  someone  to  do  some¬ 
thing;  and  this  is  the  sign  of  Advice. 
And  just  as  the  human  will  is  manifested 
in  these  five  ways,  so  is  God’s  will. 
For  that  God’s  will  is  shown  by  Precept, 
Prohibition,  and  Advice  is  seen  in 
S.  Matthew  vi :  Thy  will  be  done  in  earth 
as  it  is  in  heaven :  that  is  to  say,  may  we 
on  earth  fulfil  His  Precepts,  avoid  His 
Prohibitions,  and  follow  His  Advice. 
And  in  the  same  way,  S.  Augustine 
shows  that  Permission  and  Operation 
are  signs  of  God’s  will,  where  he  says  in 
the  Enchiridion  :  Nothing  is  done  unless 
Almighty  God  wishes  it  to  be  done, 
either  by  permitting  it  or  by  Himself 
doing  it. 

To  return  to  the  argument;  it  is 
perfectly  true  that  when  a  man  can 


87 


Part  I.  Question  18.  MALEFICARUM 


prevent  a  thing,  and  does  not,  that 
thing  may  be  said  to  proceed  from 
his  will.  And  the  inference  that  God, 
being  All-Good,  cannot  wish  evil  to 
be  done,  is  also  true  in  respect  of 
the  actual  Good  Pleasure  of  God’s 
Will,  and  also  in  respect  of  four  of 
the  signs  of  His  Will ;  for  it  is  needless 
to  say  that  He  cannot  operate  evil, 
or  command  evil  to  be  done,  or  fail 
to  be  opposed  to  evil,  or  advise  evil; 
but  He  can,  however,  permit  evil  to 
be  done. 

And  if  it  is  asked  how  it  is  possible  to 
distinguish  whether  an  illness  is  caused 
by  witchcraft  or  by  some  natural 
physical  defect,  we  answer  that  there 
are  various  methods.  And  the  first  is 
by  means  of  the  judgement  of  doctors. 
See  the  words  of  S.  Augustine  On  the 
Christian  Doctrine:  To  this  class  of  super¬ 
stition  belong  all  charms  and  amulets 
suspended  or  bound  about  the  person, 
which  the  School  of  Medicine  despises. 
For  example,  doctors  may  perceive 
from  the  circumstances,  such  as  the 
patient’s  age,  healthy  complexion,  and 
the  reaction  of  his  eyes,  that  his  disease 
does  not  result  from  any  defect  of  the 
blood  or  the  stomach,  or  any  other 
infirmity;  and  they  therefore  judge 
that  it  is  not  due  to  any  natural  defect, 
but  to  some  extrinsic  cause.  And  since 
that  extrinsic  cause  cannot  be  any 
poisonous  infection,  which  would  be 
accompanied  by  ill  humours  in  the 
blood  and  stomach,  they  have  sufficient 
reason  to  judge  that  it  is  due  to  witch¬ 
craft. 

And  secondly,  when  the  disease  is 
incurable,  so  that  the  patient  can  be 
relieved  by  no  drugs,  but  rather  seems 
to  be  aggravated  by  them. 

Thirdly,  the  evil  may  come  so 
suddenly  upon  a  man  that  it  can  only 
be  ascribed  to  witchcraft.  An  ex¬ 
ample  of  how  this  happened  to  one 
man  has  been  made  known  to  us.  A 
certain  well-born  citizen  of  Spires  had  a 
wife  who  was  of  such  an  obstinate 
disposition  that,  though  he  tried  to 
please  her  in  every  way,  yet  she  refused 
in  nearly  every  way  to  comply  with  his 
wishes,  and  was  always  plaguing  him 
with  abusive  taunts.  It  happened  that, 
on  going  into  his  house  one  day,  and 
his  wife  railing  against  him  as  usual 
with  opprobrious  words,  he  wished  to 
go  out  of  the  house  to  escape  from 
quarrelling.  But  she  quickly  ran  before 
him  and  locked  the  door  by  which  he 


wished  to  go  out;  and  loudly  swore 
that,  unless  he  beat  her,  there  was  no 
honesty  or  faithfulness  in  him.  At  these 
heavy  words  he  stretched  out  his  hand, 
not  intending  to  hurt  her,  and  struck 
her  lightly  with  his  open  palm  on  the 
buttock;  whereupon  he  suddenly  fell 
to  the  ground  and  lost  all  his  senses, 
and  lay  in  bed  for  many  weeks  afflicted 
with  a  most  grievous  illness.  Now  it 
is  obvious  that  this  was  not  a  natural 
illness,  but  was  caused  by  some  witch¬ 
craft  of  the  woman.  And  very  many 
similar  cases  have  happened,  and  been 
made  known  to  many. 

There  are  some  who  can  distinguish 
such  illnesses  by  means  of  a  certain 
practice,  which  is  as  follows.  They  hold 
molten  lead  over  the  sick  man,  and 
pour  it  into  a  bowl  of  water.  And  if 
the  lead  condenses  into  some  image, 
they  judge  that  the  sickness  is  due  to 
witchcraft.  And  when  such  men  are 
asked  whether  the  image  so  formed  is 
caused  by  the  work  of  devils,  or  is  due 
to  some  natural  cause,  they  answer  that 
it  is  due  to  the  power  of  Saturn  over 
lead,  the  influence  of  that  planet  being 
in  other  respects  evil,  and  that  the  sun 
has  a  similar  power  over  gold.  But 
what  should  be  thought  of  this  practice, 
and  whether  it  is  lawful  or  not,  will  be 
discussed  in  the  Second  Part  of  this 
treatise.  For  the  Canonists  say  that 
it  is  lawful  that  vanity  may  be  con¬ 
founded  by  vanity ;  but  the  Theologians 
hold  a  directly  opposite  view,  saying 
that  it  is  not  right  to  do  evil  that  good 
may  come. 

In  their  last  argument  they  advance 
several  objections.  First,  why  do  not 
witches  become  rich?  Secondly,  why, 
having  the  favour  of  princes,  do  they  not 
co-operate  for  the  destruction  of  all 
their  enemies?  Thirdly,  why  are  they 
unable  to  injure  Preachers  and  others 
who  persecute  them? 

For  the  first,  it  is  to  be  said  that 
witches  are  not  generally  rich  for  this 
reason:  that  the  devils  like  to  show 
their  contempt  for  the  Creator  by  buy¬ 
ing  witches  for  the  lowest  possible  price. 
And  also,  lest  they  should  be  conspicu¬ 
ous  by  their  riches. 

Secondly,  they  do  not  injure  princes 
because  they  wish  to  retain,  as  far  as 
possible,  their  friendship.  And  if  it  is 
asked  why  they  do  not  hurt  their 
enemies,  it  is  answered  that  a  good 
Angel,  working  on  the  other  side, 
prevents  such  witchcraft.  Compare  the 


x  V’ 


% 


tr 

C,  9^T 

.  v 


88 


MALLEUS  MALEFICARUM  Part  I.  Question  18. 


passage  in  Daniel:*  The  Prince  of  the 

*  “ Daniel ”  x,  13:  “But  the  prince  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Persians  resisted  me  one-and- 
twenty  days:  And  behold  Michael ,  one  of  the 
chief  princes,  came  to  help  me,  and  I  remained 
there  by  the  King  of  the  Persians.”  The  Prince 
of  the  Persians  is  the  angel  guardian  of  Persia: 
who,  according  to  his  office,  seeking  the  spiritual 
good  of  the  Persians ,  was  desirous  that  many  of 
the  Jews  should  remain  among  them. 


Persians  withstood  me  for  twenty-one 
days.  See  S.  Thomas  in  the  Second 
Book  of  Sentences ,  where  he  debates 
whether  there  is  any  contest  among  the 
good  Angels,  and  of  what  sort. 

Thirdly,  it  is  said  that  they  cannot 
injure  Inquisitors  and  other  officials, 
because  they  dispense  public  justice. 
Many  examples  could  be  adduced  to 
prove  this,  but  time  does  not  permit  it. 


THE  SECOND  PART, 
TREATING  OF  THE 
METHODS  BY  WHICH 
WITCHCRAFT  IS  INFLICTED, 
AND  HOW  IT  MAY  BE 
AUSPICIOUSLY  REMOVED 

RESOLVED  IN  TWO  ONLY  QUESTIONS, 
BUT  DIVIDED  INTO  MANY  CHAPTERS 

☆ 

QUESTION  I 

Of  those  against  whom  the  Power  of  Witches 
availeth  not  at  all. 

THE  second  main  part  of  this 
work  deals  with  the  method  of 
procedure  adopted  by  witches 
for  the  performance  of  their 
witchcraft ;  and  these  are  distinguished 
under  eighteen  heads,  proceeding  from 
two  chief  difficulties.  The  first  of  these 
two,  dealt  with  in  the  beginning,  con¬ 
cerns  protective  remedies,  by  which  a 
man  is  rendered  immune  from  witch¬ 
craft  :  the  second,  dealt  with  at  the  end, 
concerns  curative  remedies,  by  which 
those  who  are  bewitched  can  be  cured. 
For,  as  Aristotle  says  (Physics,  IV), 
prevention  and  cure  are  related  to  one 
another,  and  are,  accidentally,  matters 
of  causation.  In  this  way  the  whole 
foundation  of  this  horrible  heresy  may 
be  made  clear. 

In  the  above  two  divisions,  the  fol¬ 
lowing  points  will  be  principally  em¬ 
phasized.  First,  the  initiation  of  witches, 
and  their  profession  of  sacrilege. 
Second,  the  progress  of  their  method  of 
working,  and  of  their  horrible  observ¬ 
ances.  Third,  the  preventive  protec¬ 
tions  against  their  Witchcrafts.  And  be¬ 
cause  we  are  now  dealing  with  matters 
relating  to  morals  and  behaviour,  and 
there  is  no  need  for  a  variety  of  argu¬ 
ments  and  disquisitions,  since  those 
matters  which  now  follow  under  their 
headings  are  sufficiently  discussed  in 
the  foregoing  Questions;  therefore  we 
pray  God  that  the  reader  will  not  look 
for  proofs  in  every  case,  since  it  is 
enough  to  adduce  examples  that  have 
been  personally  seen  or  heard,  or  are 
i  accepted  at  the  word  of  credible 
witnesses. 

In  the  first  of  the  points  mentioned, 
two  matters  will  be  chiefly  examined  : 
i  first,  the  various  methods  of  enticement 
adopted  by  the  devil  himself;  second, 


the  various  ways  in  which  witches  pro¬ 
fess  their  heresy.  And  in  the  second  of 
the  main  points,  six  matters  will  be 
examined  in  order,  relating  to  the  pro¬ 
cedure  of  witchcraft,  and  its  cure. 
First,  the  practices  of  witches  with 
regard  to  themselves  and  their  own 
bodies.  Second,  their  practices  with 
regard  to  other  men.  Third,  those 
relating  to  beasts.  Fourth,  the  mischief 
they  do  to  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  Fifth, 
those  kinds  of  witchcraft  which  are 
practised  by  men  only  and  not  by 
women.  Sixth,  the  question  of  remov¬ 
ing  witchcraft,  and  how  those  who  are 
bewitched  may  be  cured.  The  First 
Question,  therefore,  is  divided  into 
eighteen  heads,  since  in  so  many  ways 
are  their  observances  varied  and  multi¬ 
plied. 

It  is  asked  whether  a  man  can  be  so 
blessed  by  the  good  Angels  that  he  can¬ 
not  be  bewitched  by  witches  in  any  of 
the  ways  that  follow.  And  it  seems  that 
he  cannot,  for  it  has  already  been 
proved  that  even  the  blameless  and 
innocent  and  the  just  are  often  afflicted 
by  devils,  as  was  Job ;  and  many  inno¬ 
cent  children,  as  well  as  countless  other 
just  men,  are  seen  to  be  bewitched, 
although  not  to  the  same  extent  as 
sinners ;  for  they  are  not  afflicted  in  the 
perdition  of  their  souls,  but  only  in  their 
worldly  goods  and  their  bodies.  But  the 
contrary  is  indicated  by  the  confessions 
of  witches,  namely,  that  they  cannot 
injure  everybody,  but  only  those  whom 
they  learn,  through  the  information  of 
devils,  to  be  destitute  of  Divine  help. 

Answer.  There  are  three  classes  of 
men  blessed  by  God,  whom  that  detest¬ 
able  race  cannot  injure  with  their 
witchcraft.  And  the  first  are  those  who|| 
administer  public  justice  against  them, 
or  prosecute  them  in  any  public  official 
capacity.  The  second  are  those  who,^i 
according  to  the  traditional  and  holy 
rites  of  the  Church,  make  lawful  use  of 
the  power  and  virtue  which  the  Church 
by  her  exorcisms  furnishes  in  the  asper¬ 
sion  of  Holy  Water,  the  taking  of  con¬ 
secrated  salt,  the  carrying  of  blessed 
candles  on  the  Day  of  the  Purification 
of  Our  Lady,  of  palm  leaves  upon 
Palm  Sunday,  and  men  who  thus 
fortify  themselves  are  acting  so  that  the 
powers  of  devils  are  diminished ;  and  of 
these  we  shall  speak  later.  The  third 
class  are  those  who,  in  various  and 
infinite  ways,  are  blessed  by  the  Holy 
Angels. 


90 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Question  i. 


The  reason  for  this  in  the  first  class 
will  be  given  and  proved  by  various 
examples.  For  since,  as  S.  Paul  says, 
all  power  is  from  God,  and  a  sword 
for  the  avenging  of  the  wicked  and  the 
retribution  of  the  good,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  devils  are  kept  at  bay  when  justice 
is  being  ‘done  to  avenge  that  horrible 
crime. 

To  the  same  effect  the  Doctors  note 
that  there  are  five  ways  in  which  the 
devil’s  power  is  hindered,  either  wholly  \h 
or  in  part.  First,  by  a  limit  fixed  by/\ 
God  to  his  power,  as  is  seen  in  Job  i 
and  ii.  Another  example  is  the  case  of 
the  man  we  read  of  in  the  Formicarius 
of  Nider,  who  had  confessed  to  a  judge 
that  he  had  invoked  the  devil  in  order 
that  he  might  kill  an  enemy  of  his,  or 
do  him  bodily  harm,  or  strike  him  dead 
with  lightning.  And  he  said :  “When  I 
had  invoked  the  devil  that  I  might  com¬ 
mit  such  a  deed  with  his  help,  he 
answered  me  that  he  was  unable  to  do 
any  of  those  things,  because  the  man 
had  good  faith  and  diligently  defended 
himself  with  the  sign  of  the  cross ;  and 
that  therefore  he  could  not  harm  him 
in  his  body,  but  the  most  he  could  do 
was  to  destroy  an  eleventh  part  of  the 
fruits  of  his  lands.” 

Secondly,  it  is  hindered  by  the  appli¬ 
cation  of  some  exterior  force,  as  in  the 
case  of  Balaam’s  ass,  Numbers  xxii. 
Thirdly,  by  some  externally  performed 
miracle  of  power.  And  there  are  some 
who  are  blessed  with  an  unique  privi¬ 
lege,  as  will  be  shown  later  in  the  case 
of  the  third  class  of  men  who  cannot 
be  bewitched.  Fourthly,  by  the  good 
providence  of  God,  Who  disposes  each 
thing  severally,  and  causes  a  good  Angel 
to  stand  in  the  devil’s  way,  as  when 
Asmodeus  killed  the  seven  husbands 
of  the  virgin  Sara,  but  did  not  kill 
Tobias. 

Fifthly,  it  is  sometimes  due  to  the 
caution  of  the  devil  himself,  for  at  times 
he  does  not  wish  to  do  hurt,  in  order 
that  worse  may  follow  from  it.  As,  for 
example,  when  he  could  molest  the 
excommunicated  but  does  not  do  so,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  excommunicated  Cor¬ 
inthian  (I.  Corinthians  v),  in  order  that 
he  may  weaken  the  faith  of  the  Church 
in  the  power  of  such  banishment. 
Therefore  we  may  similarly  say  that, 
even  if  the  administrators  of  public 
justice  were  not  protected  by  Divine 
power,  yet  the  devils  often  of  their  own 
accord  withdraw  their  support  and 


guardianship  from  witches,  either  be¬ 
cause  they  fear  their  conversion,  or 
because  they  desire  and  hasten  their 
damnation. 

This  fact  is  proved  also  by  actual 
experience.  For  the  aforesaid  Doctor 
affirms  that  witches  have  borne  witness 
that  it  is  a  fact  of  their  own  experience 
that,  merely  because  they  have  been 
taken  by  officials  of  public  justice,  they 
have  immediately  lost  all  their  power  of 
witchcraft.  For  example,  a  judge  named 
Peter,  whom  we  have  mentioned  before, 
wished  his  officials  to  arrest  a  certain 
witch  called  Stadlin;*  but  their  hands 
were  seized  with  so  great  a  trembling, 
and  such  a  nauseous  stench  came  into 
their  nostrils,  that  they  gave  up  hope  of 
daring  to  touch  the  witch.  And  the  judge 
commanded  them,  saying:  “You  may 
safely  arrest  the  wretch,  for  when  he  is 
touched  by  the  hand  of  public  justice, 
he  will  lose  all  the  power  of  his  in¬ 
iquity.”  And  so  the  event  proved ;  for 
he  was  taken  and  burned  for  many 
witchcrafts  perpetrated  by  him,  which 
are  mentioned  here  and  there  in  this 
work  in  their  appropriate  places. 

And  many  more  such  experiences 
have  happened  to  us  Inquisitors  in  the 
exercise  of  our  inquisitorial  office,  which 
would  turn  the  mind  of  the  reader  to 
wonder  if  it  were  expedient  to  relate 
them.  But  since  self-praise  is  sordid 
and  mean,  it  is  better  to  pass  them 
over  in  silence  than  to  incur  the  stigma 
of  boastfulness  and  conceit.  But  we 
must  except  those  which  have  become 
so  well  known  that  they  cannot  be 
concealed. 

Not  long  ago  in  the  town  of  Ratisbom 
the  magistrates  had  condemned  a  I 
witch  to  be  burned,  and  were  asked  why 
it  was  that  we  Inquisitors  were  not 
afflicted  like  other  men  with  witchcraft. 
They  answered  that  witches  had  often 
tried  to  injure  them,  but  could  not. 
And,  being  asked  the  reason  for  this, 
they  answered  that  they  did  not  know, 
unless  it  was  because  the  devils  had 
warned  them  against  doing  so.  For 
they  said,  it  would  be  impossible  to  tell 
how  many  times  they  have  pestered  us 
by  day  and  by  night,  now  in  the  form  of 


*  “ Stadlin Stadelein,  who  is  described  as 
“ grandis  maleficus ,”  “a  most  notorious  war- 
lock lived  at  Boltingen ,  a  town  in  the  duchy 
and  diocese  of  Lausanne.  John  Nider  sat  as 
assessor  at  his  trial.  See  the  “Formicarius 
c.  III. 


Part  II.  Question  i.  MALEFICARUM 


9i 


apes,  now  of  dogs  or  goats,  disturbing  us 
with  their  cries  and  insults ;  "fetching  us 
from  our  beds  at  their  blasphemous 
prayers,  so  that  we  have  stood  outside 
the  window  of  their  prison,  which  was 
so  high  that  no  one  could  reach  it 
without  the  longest  of  ladders ;  and  then 
they  have  seemed  to  stick  the  pins  with 
which  their  head-cloth  was  fastened 
violently  into  their  heads,  and  so  they 
were  found  by  us  when  we  had  risen, 
as  if  they  had  wished  to  stick  them  into 
our  own  heads.  But  praise  be  to 
Almighty  God,  Who  in  His  pity,  and 
for  no  merit  of  our  own,  has  preserved 
us  as  unworthy  public  servants  of  the 
justice  of  the  Faith. 

The  reason  in  the  case  of  the  second 
class  of  men  is  self-evident.  For  the 
exorcisms  of  the  Church  are  for  this 
very  purpose,  and  are  entirely  efficaci¬ 
ous  remedies  for  preserving  oneself 
from  the  injuries  of  witches. 

But  if  it  is  asked  in  what  manner  a 
man  ought  to  use  such  protections,  we 
must  speak  first  of  those  that  are  used 
without  the  uttering  of  sacred  words, 
and  then  of  the  actual  sacred  invoca¬ 
tions.  For  in  the  first  place  it  is  lawful 
in  any  decent  habitation  of  men  or 
beasts  to  sprinkle  Holy  Water  for  the 
safety  and  securing  of  men  and  beasts, 
with  the  invocation  of  the  Most  Holy 
Trinity  and  a  Paternoster.  For  it  is 
«aid  in  the  Office  of  Exorcism,  that 
wherever  it  is  sprinkled,  all  uncleanness 
is  purified,  all  harm  is  repelled,  and 
no  pestilent  spirit  can  abide  there,  etc. 
For  the  Lord  saves  both  man  and  beast, 
according  to  the  Prophet,  each  in  his 
degree. 

Secondly,  just  as  the  first  must  neces¬ 
sarily  be  sprinkled,  so  in  the  case  of  a 
Blessed  Candle,  although  it  is  more 
appropriate  to  light  it,  the  wax  of  it  may 
with  advantage  be  sprinkled  about 
dwelling-houses.  And  thirdly,  it  is  ex¬ 
pedient  to  place  or  to  burn  consecrated 
herbs  in  those  rooms  where  they  can 
best  be  consumed  in  some  convenient 
place. 

Now  it  happened  in  the  city  of  Spires, 
in  the  same  year  that  this  book  was 
begun,  that  a  certain  devout  woman 
held  conversation  with  a  suspected 
witch,  and,  after  the  manner  of  women, 
they  used  abusive  words  to  each  other. 
But  in  the  night  she  wished  to  put  her 
little  suckling  child  in  its  cradle,  and 
remembered  her  encounter  that  day 
with  the  suspected  witch.  So,  fearing 


some  danger  to  the  child,  she  placed 
consecrated  herbs  under  it,  sprinkled 
it  with  Holy  Water,  put  a  little  Blessed 
Salt  to  its  lips,  signed  it  with  the  Sign 
of  the  Cross,  and  diligently  secured  the 
cradle.  About  the  middle  of  the  night 
she  heard  the  child  crying,  and,  as 
women  do,  wished  to  embrace  the 
child,  and  lift  the  cradle  on  to  her  bed. 
She  lifted  the  cradle,  indeed,  but  could 
not  embrace  the  child,  because  he  was 
not  there.  The  poor  woman,  in  terror, 
and  bitterly  weeping  for  the  loss  of  her 
child,  lit  a  light,  and  found  the  child  in  a 
corner  under  a  chair,  crying  but  unhurt. 

In  this  it  may  be  seen  what  virtue 
there  is  in  the  exorcisms  of  the  Church 
against  the  snares  of  the  devil.  It  is 
manifest  that  Almighty  God,  in  His 
mercy  and  wisdom  which  extend  from 
end  to  end,  watches  over  the  deeds  of 
those  wicked  men;  and  that  he  gently 
directs  the  witchcraft  of  devils,  so  that 
when  they  try  to  diminish  and  weaken 
the  Faith,  they  on  the  contrary 
strengthen  it  and  make  it  more  firmly 
rooted  in  the  hearts  of  many.  For  the 
faithful  may  derive  much  profit  from 
these  evils ;  when,  by  reason  of  devils’ 
works,  the  faith  is  made  strong,  God’s 
mercy  is  seen,  and  His  power  mani¬ 
fested,  and  men  are  led  into  His  keep¬ 
ing  and  to  the  reverence  of  Christ’s 
Passion,  and  are  enlightened  by  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Church. 

There  lived  in  a  town  of  Wiesenthal 
a  certain  Mayor  who  was  bewitched 
with  the  most  terrible  pains  and  bodily 
contortions ;  and  he  discovered,  not  by 
means  of  other  witches,  but  from  his 
own  experience,  how  that  witchcraft 
had  been  practised  on  him.  For  he 
said  he  was  in  the  habit  of  fortifying 
himself  every  Sunday  with  Blessed  Salt 
and  Holy  Water,  but  that  he  had  neg¬ 
lected  to  do  so  on  one  occasion  owing 
to  the  celebration  of  somebody’s 
marriage ;  and  on  that  same  day  he  was 
bewitched. 

In  Ratisbon  a  man  was  being 
tempted  by  the  devil  in  the  form  of  a 
woman  to  copulate,  and  became  greatly 
disturbed  when  the  devil  would  not 
desist.  But  it  came  into  the  poor  man’s 
mind  that  he  ought  to  defend  himself 
by  taking  Blessed  Salt,  as  he  had  heard 
in  a  sermon.  So,  he  took  some  Blessed 
Salt  on  entering  the  bath-room ;  and 
the  woman  looked  fiercely  at  him,  and, 
cursing  whatever  devil  had  taught  him 
to  do  this,  suddenly  disappeared.  For 


92 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Question  i. 


the  devil  can,  with  God’s  permission, 
present  himself  either  in  the  form  of  a 
witch,  or  by  possessing  the  body  of  an 
actual  witch. 

There  were  also  three  companions 
walking  along  a  road,  and  two  of  them 
were  struck  by  lightning.  The  third  was 
terrified,  when  he  heard  voices  speak¬ 
ing  in  the  air,  “Let  us  strike  him  too.” 
But  another  voice  answered,  “We  can¬ 
not,  for  to-day  he  has  heard  the  words 
‘The  Word  was  made  Flesh.’”  And  he 
understood  that  he  had  been  saved 
because  he  had  that  day  heard  Mass, 
and,  at  the  end  of  the  Mass,  the  Gospel 
of  S.  John :  In  the  beginning  was  the 
Word,  etc. 

Also  sacred  words  bound  to  the  body 
are  marvellously  protective,  if  seven 
conditions  for  their  use  are  observed. 
But  these  will  be  mentioned  in  the  last 
Question  of  this  Second  Part,  where  we 
speak  of  curative,  as  here  we  speak  of 
preventive  measures.  And  those  sacred 
words  help  not  only  to  protect,  but  also 
to  cure  those  who  are  bewitched. 

But  the  surest  protection  for  places, 
men,  or  animals  are  the  words  of  the 
triumphal  title  of  our  Saviour,  if  they 
be  written  in  four  places  in  the  form  of  a 
cross :  IESUS  t  NAZARENUS  t  REX 
t  IUDAEORUM  t.  There  may  also 
be  added  the  name  of  the  Virgin  MARY 
and  of  the  Evangelists,  or  the  words  of 
S.  John :  The  Word  was  made  Flesh. 

But  the  third  class  of  men  which 
cannot  be  hurt  by  witches  is  the  most 
remarkable;  for  they  are  protected  by 
a  special  Angelic  guardianship,  both 
within  and  without.  Within,  by  the 
inpouring  of  grace;  without,  by  the 
virtue  of  the  stars,  that  is,  by  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  the  Powers  which  move  the 
stars.  And  this  class  is  divided  into  two 
sections  of  the  Elect :  for  some  are  pro¬ 
tected  against  all  sorts  of  witchcrafts, 
so  that  they  can  be  hurt  in  no  way ;  and 
others  are  particularly  rendered  chaste 
by  the  good  Angels  with  regard  to  the 
generative  functions,  just  as  evil  spirits, 
by  their  witchcrafts  inflame  the  lusts 
of  certain  wicked  men  towards  one 
woman,  while  they  make  them  cold 
towards  another. 

And  their  interior  and  exterior  pro¬ 
tection,  by  grace  and  by  the  influence 
of  the  stars,  is  explained  as  follows.  For 
though  it  is  God  Himself  Who  pours 
grace  into  our  souls,  and  no  other 
creature  has  so  great  power  as  to  do 
this  (as  it  is  said :  The  Lord  will  give 


grace  and  glory) ;  yet,  when  God  wishes 
to  bestow  some  especial  grace,  He  does 
so  in  a  dispositive  way  through  the 
agency  of  a  good  Angel,  as  S.  Thomas 
teaches  us  in  a  certain  place  in  the 
Third  Book  of  Sentences . 

And  this  is  the  doctrine  put  forward 
by  Dionysius  in  the  fourth  chapter 
de  Diuinis  Nominibus:  This  is  the  fixed 
and  unalterable  law  of  Divinity,  that 
the  High  proceeds  to  the  Low  through 
a  Medium;  so  that  whatever  of  good 
emanates  to  us  from  the  fountain  of  all 
goodness,  comes  through  the  ministry 
of  the  good  Angels.  And  this  is  proved 
both  by  examples  and  by  argument. 
For  although  only  the  Divine  power 
was  the  cause  of  the  Conception  of  the 
Word  of  God  in  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin, 
through  whom  God  was  made  man; 
yet  the  mind  of  the  Virgin  was  by  the 
ministry  of  an  Angel  much  stimulated 
by  the  Salutation,  and  by  the  strength¬ 
ening  and  information  of  her  under¬ 
standing,  and  was  thus  predisposed 
to  goodness.  This  truth  can  also  be 
reasoned  as  follows :  It  is  the  opinion  of 
the  above-mentioned  Doctor  that  there 
are  three  properties  in  man,  the  will, 
the  understanding,  and  the  inner  and 
outer  powers  belonging  to  the  bodily 
members  and  organs.  The  first  God 
alone  can  influence:  For  the  heart  of 
the  king  is  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord.  A 
good  Angel  can  influence  the  under¬ 
standing  towards  a  clearer  knowledge  of 
the  true  and  the  good,  so  that  in  the 
second  of  his  properties  both  God  and  a 
good  Angel  can  enlighten  a  man.  Simi¬ 
larly  in  the  third,  a  good  Angel  can 
endow  a  man  with  good  qualities,  and 
a  bad  Angel  can,  with  God*s  permission, 
afflict  him  with  evil  temptations.  How¬ 
ever,  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  human 
will  either  to  accept  such  evil  influences 
or  to  reject  them ;  and  this  a  man  can 
always  do  by  invoking  the  grace  of  God. 

As  to  the  exterior  protection  which 
comes  from  God  through  the  Movers 
of  the  stars,  the  tradition  is  widespread, 
and  conforms  equally  with  the  Sacred 
Writings  and  with  natural  philosophy. 
For  all  the  heavenly  bodies  are  moved 
by  angelic  powers  which  are  called  by 
Christ  the  Movers  of  the  stars,  and  by 
the  Church  the  Powers  of  the  heavens ; 
and  consequently  all  the  corporeal 
substances  of  this  world  are  governed 
by  the  celestial  influences,  as  witness 
Aristotle,  Metaphysics  I.  Therefore  we 
can  say  that  the  providence  of  God  over- 


Part  II.  Question  i. 


MALEFICARUM 


93 


looks  each  one  of  His  elect,  but  He  sub¬ 
jects  some  of  them  to  the  ills  of  this  life 
for  their  correction,  while  He  so  pro¬ 
tects  others  that  they  can  in  no  way  be 
injured.  And  this  gift  they  receive 
either  from  the  good  Angels  deputed  by 
God  for  their  protection,  or  from  the 
influence  of  the  heavenly  bodies  or  the 
Powers  which  move  them. 

It  is  further  to  be  noted  that  some  are 
protected  against  all  witchcrafts,  and 
some  against  only  a  part  of  them.  For 
some  are  particularly  purified  by  the 
good  Angels  in  their  genital  functions, 
so  that  witches  can  in  no  way  bewitch 
them  in  respect  of  those  functions. 
But  it  is  in  one  sense  superfluous  to 
write  of  these,  although  in  another  sense 
it  is  needful  for  this  reason:  for  those 
who  are  bewitched  in  their  generative 
function  are  so  deprived  of  the  guard¬ 
ianship  of  Angels  that  they  are  either  in 
mortal  sin  always,  or  practise  those  im¬ 
purities  with  too  lustful  a  zest.  In  this 
connexion  it  has  been  shown  in  the 
First  Part  of  this  work  that  God  permits 
greater  powers  of  witchcraft  against 
that  function,  not  so  much  because  of 
its  nastiness,  as  because  it  was  this  act 
that  caused  the  corruption  of  our  first 
parents  and,  by  its  contagion,  brought 
the  inheritance  of  original  sin  upon  the 
whole  human  race. 

But  let  us  give  a  few  examples  of  how 
a  good  Angel  sometimes  blesses  just  and 
holy  men,  especially  in  the  matter  of 
the  genital  instincts.  For  the  following 
was  the  experience  of  the  Abbot  S. 
Serenus,  as  it  is  told  by  Cassian*  in  his 

*  “Cassian”  John  Cassian,  monk  and 
ascetic  writer  of  Southern  Gaul,  and  the  first  to 
introduce  the  rules  of  Eastern  monasticism  into 
the  West,  was  born  probably  in  Provence  about 
360;  and  died  near  Marseilles  about  433.  The 
two  principal  works  of  Cassian  are  the  “Insti¬ 
tutes;  De  institutis  coenobiorum  et  de  octo 
principalium  uitiorum  remediis  libri  XII”;  and 
the  “ Collations ”  or  “Conferences,”  “Collationes 
XXIV.”  The  author  has  himself  remarked 
upon  the  relation  between  the  two  works:  “  These 
books  (‘ the  Institutes')  .  .  .  are  mainly  taken 
up  with  what  belongs  to  the  outer  man  and  the 
customs  of  the  coenobia;  the  others  ( the  ‘ Con¬ 
ferences' )  deal  rather  with  the  training  of  the 
inner  man  and  the  perfection  of  the  heart.”  The 
best  edition  of  the  works  of  Cassian  is  that  by 
Petschenig,  Vienna,  1883-88. 

Although  never  formally  canonized,  from  very 
early  days  Cassian  was  regarded  as  a  saint.  At 
Marseilles  his  feast  ( with  an  octave)  is  celebrated 
23  July,  and  his  name  is  found  in  the  Greek 
Calendar. 


Collations  of  the  Fathers ,  in  the  first  con¬ 
ference  of  the  Abbot  Serenus.  This 
man,  he  says,  laboured  to  achieve  an 
inward  chastity  of  heart  and  soul,  by 
prayers  both  by  night  and  day,  by  fast¬ 
ing  and  by  vigils,  till  he  at  last  per¬ 
ceived  that,  by  Divine  grace,  he  had 
extinguished  all  the  surgings  of  carnal 
concupiscence.  Finally,  stirred  by  an 
even  greater  zeal  for  chastity,  he  used 
all  the  above  holy  practices  to  pray  the 
Almighty  and  All-Good  God  to  grant 
him  that,  by  God’s  gift,  the  chastity 
which  he  felt  in  his  heart  should  be 
visibly  conferred  upon  his  body.  Then 
aP  .Angel  of  the  Lord  came  to  him  in  a 
vision  in  the  night,  and  seemed  to  open 
his  belly  and  take  from  his  entrails  a 
burning  tumour  of  flesh,  and  then  to 
replace  all  his  intestines  as  they  had 
been;  and  said :  Lo!  the  provocation  of 
your  flesh  is  cut  out,  and  know  that  this 
day  you  have  obtained  perpetual  purity 
of  your  body,  according  to  the  prayer 
which  you  prayed,  so  that  you  will 
never  again  be  pricked  with  that 
natural  desire  which  is  aroused  even  in 
babes  and  sucklings. 

Similarly  S.  Gregory,  in  the  first  book 
of  his  Dialogues ,  tells  of  the  Blessed 
Abbot  Equitius.  This  man,  he  says,  was 
in  his  youth  greatly  troubled  by  the 
provocation  of  the  flesh ;  but  the  very 
distress  of  his  temptation  made  him  all 
the  more  zealous  in  his  application  to 
prayer.  And  when  he  continuously 
prayed  Almighty  God  for  a  remedy 
against  this  affliction,  an  Angel  ap¬ 
peared  to  him  one  night  and  seemed  to 
make  him  an  eunuch,  and  it  seemed  to 
him  in  his  vision  that  all  feeling  was 
taken  away  from  his  genital  organs ;  and 
from  that  time  he  was  such  a  stranger  to  .  , 
temptation  as  if  he  had  no  sex  in  his 
body.  Behold  what  benefit  there  was  in 
that  purification;  for  he  was  so  filled 
with  virtue  that,  with  the  help  of 
Almighty  God,  just  as  he  was  before 
pre-eminent  among  men,  so  he  after¬ 
wards  became  pre-eminent  over  women. 

Again,  in  the  Lives  of  the  Fathers  col¬ 
lected  by  that  very  holy  man  S.  Hera¬ 
clides,!  in  the  book  which  he  calls 
Paradise ,  he  tells  of  a  certain  holy  Father, 
a  monk  named  Helias.  This  man  was 


t  “S-  Heraclides.”  Episcopus  Tamasi  in 
Cypro,  cuius  Festum  agitur  die  xvii  Septembris. 
See  “ Analecta  Bollandiana,”  XXVI,  238-g; 
and  Fr.  Nau,  “Revue  de  l' Orient  chretien,”  XII 
i1  97),  123-38. 


94 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Question  i. 


moved  by  pity  to  collect  thirty  women 
in  a  monastery,  and  began  to  rule  over 
them.  But  after  two  years,  when  he  was 
thirty  years  old,  he  fled  from  the  temp¬ 
tation  of  the  flesh  into  a  hermitage,  and 
fasting  there  for  two  days,  prayed  to 
God,  saying :  “O  Lord  God,  either  slay 
me,  or  deliver  me  from  this  tempta¬ 
tion.”  And  in  the  evening  a  dream 
came  to  him,  and  he  saw  three  Angels 
approach  him ;  and  they  asked  him  why 
he  had  fled  from  that  monastery  of 
virgins.  But  when  he  did  not  dare  to 
answer,  for  shame,  the  Angels  said:  If 
you  are  set  free  from  temptation,  will 
you  return  to  your  cure  of  those  women? 
And  he  answered  that  he  would  will¬ 
ingly.  They  then  exacted  an  oath  to 
that  effect  from  him,  and  made  him  an 
eunuch.  For  one  seemed  to  hold  his 
hands,  another  his  feet,  and  the  third 
to  cut  out  his  testicles  with  a  knife; 
though  this  was  not  really  so,  but  only 
seemed  to  be.  And  when  they  asked  if 
he  felt  himself  remedied,  he  answered 
that  he  was  entirely  delivered.  So,  on 
the  fifth  day,  he  returned  to  the  sorrow¬ 
ing  women,  and  ruled  over  them  for  the 
forty  years  that  he  continued  to  live, 
and  never  again  felt  a  spark  of  that  first 
temptation. 

No  less  a  benefit  do  we  read  to  have 
been  conferred  upon  the  Blessed 
Thomas,*  a  Doctor  of  our  Order,  whom 
his  brothers  imprisoned  for  entering 
that  Order ;  and,  wishing  to  tempt  him, 
they  sent  in  to  him  a  seductive  and 
sumptuously  adorned  harlot.  But  when 
the  Doctor  had  looked  at  her,  he  ran 
to  the  material  fire,  and  snatching  up  a 
lighted  torch,  drove  the  engine  of  the 
fire  of  lust  out  of  his  prison;  and, 
prostrating  himself  in  a  prayer  for  the 


*  “j Blessed  Thomas At  the  instance  of  his 
mother  Theodora ,  Countess  of  Teano,  S. 
Thomas ,  who  had  received  the  Dominican  habit 
some  time  between  1240  and  August  1243,  was 
whilst  on  his  way  to  Rome  from  Naples  captured 
near  Aquapendente  by  his  two  brothers,  Landolfo 
and  Rinaldo,  officers  in  the  army  of  the  Emperor 
Frederick.  They  confined  him  for  nearly  two 
years  in  the  fortress  of  San  Giovanni  at  Rocca 
Secca.  He  revealed  this  vision  of  Holy  Angels 
who  endowed  him  with  the  white  girdle  of 
chastity  to  his  faithful  friend,  Reginald  of 
Piperno.  One  of  the  particular  devotions  of  the 
Dominican  Order  consists  in  wearing,  as  a 
devout  memorial  of  this  event,  a  white  girdle  for 
which  a  special  form  of  blessing  is  prescribed: 
“ Benedictio  Cinguli  S.  Thomae  Aquinatis  Ad 
Seruandam  Castitatem .” 


gift  of  chastity,  went,  to  sleep.  Two 
Angels  then  appeared  to  him,  saying: 
Behold,  at  the  bidding  of  God  we  gird 
you  with  a  girdle  of  chastity,  which 
cannot  be  loosed  by  any  other  such 
temptation ;  neither  can  it  be  acquired 
by  the  merits  of  human  virtue,  but  is 
given  as  a  gift  by  God  alone.  And  he 
felt  himself  girded,  and  was  aware  of 
the  touch  of  the  girdle,  and  cried  out 
and  awaked.  And  thereafter  he  felt 
himself  endowed  with  so  great  a  gift  of 
chastity,  that  from  that  time  he  ab¬ 
horred  all  the  delights  of  the  flesh,  so 
that  he  could  not  even  speak  to  a  woman 
except  under  compulsion,  but  was 
strong  in  his  perfect  chastity.  This  we 
take  from  the  Formicarius  of  Nider. 

With  the  exception,  therefore,  of 
these  three  classes  of  men,  no  one  is 
secure  from  witches.  For  all  others  are 
liable  to  be  bewitched,  or  to  be  tempted 
and  incited  by  some  witchery,  in  the 
eighteen  ways  that  are  now  to  be  con¬ 
sidered.  For  we  must  first  describe 
these  methods  in  their  order,  that  we 
may  afterwards  discuss  more  clearly  the 
remedies  by  which  those  who  are  be¬ 
witched  can  be  relieved.  And  that  the 
eighteen  methods  may  be  more  clearly 
shown,  they  are  set  forth  under  as  many 
chapters  as  follows.  First,  we  show  the 
various  methods  of  initiation  of  witches,  yj 
and  how  they  entice  innocent  girls  to 
swell  the  numbers  of  their  perfidious 
company.  Second,  how  witches  pro¬ 
fess  their  sacrilege,  and  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  devil  which  they  take. 
Third,  how  they  are  transported  from 
place  to  place,  either  bodily  or  in  the 
spirit.  Fourth,  how  they  subject  them-f 
selves  to  Incubi,  who  are  devils.  Fifth, 
their  general  method  of  practising 
witchcraft  through  the  Sacraments  of 
the  Church,  and  in  particular  how, 
with  the  permission  of  God,  they  can 
afflict  all  creatures  except  the  Celestial 
Bodies.  Sixth,  their  method  of  obstruct¬ 
ing  the  generative  function.  Seventh, 
how  they  can  take  off  the  virile  member 
by  some  art  of  illusion.  Eighth,  how 
they  change  men  into  the  shapes  of 
beasts.  Ninth,  how  devils  can  enter 
the  mind  without  hurting  it,  when  they 
work  some  glamour  or  illusion.  Tenth, 
how  devils,  through  the  operation  of 
witches,  sometimes  substantially  inhabit 
men.  Eleventh,  how  they  cause  every 
sort  of  infirmity,  and  this  in  general. 
Twelfth,  of  certain  infirmities  in  par¬ 
ticular.  Thirteenth,  how  witch  mid- 


Part  II.  Question  i.  MALEFICARUM 


wives  cause  the  greatest  damage,  either 
j  lolling  children  or  sacrilegiously  offer¬ 
ing  them  to  devils.  Fourteenth,  how 
l|they  cause  various  plagues  to  afflict 
animals.  Fifteenth,  how  they  raise  hail¬ 
storms  and  tempests,  and  thunder  and 
lightning,  to  fall  upon  men  and  animals. 
Sixteenth,  seventeenth,  and  eighteenth, 
the  three  ways  in  which  men  only,  and 
not  women,  are  addicted  to  witchcraft. 
After  these  will  follow  the  question  of 
the  methods  by  which  these  sorts  of 
witchcraft  may  be  removed. 

But  let  no  one  think  that,  because  we 
have  enumerated  the  various  methods 
by  which  various  forms  of  witchcraft 
are  inflicted,  he  will  arrive  at  a  com¬ 
plete  knowledge  of  these  practices ;  for 
such  knowledge  would  be  of  little  use, 
and  might  even  be  harmful.  Not  even 
the  forbidden  books  of  Necromancy 
contain  such  knowledge ;  for  witch¬ 
craft  is  not  taught  in  books,  nor  is  it 
practised  by  the  learned,  but  by  the 
altogether  uneducated ;  having  only 
one  foundation,  without  the  acknow¬ 
ledgement  or  practice  of  which  it  is 
impossible  for  anyone  to  work  witch¬ 
craft  as  a  witch. 

Moreover,  the  methods  are  enumer¬ 
ated  here  at  the  beginning,  that  their 
deeds  may  not  seem  incredible,  as  they 
have  often  been  thought  hitherto,  to 
the  great  damage  of  the  Faith,  and  the 
increase  of  witches  themselves.  But  if 
anyone  maintains  that,  since  (as  has 
been  proved  above)  some  men  are  pro¬ 
tected  by  the  influence  of  the  stars  so 
that  they  can  be  hurt  by  no  witchcraft, 
it  should  also  be  attributed  to  the  stars 
when  anyone  is  bewitched,  as  if  it 
were  a  matter  of  predestination  whether 
a  man  be  immune  from  or  subject  to 
witchcraft,  such  a  man  does  not  rightly 
understand  the  meaning  of  the  Doctors ; 
and  this  in  various  respects. 

And  first,  because  there  are  three 
human  qualities  which  may  be  said  to 
be  ruled  by  three  celestial  causes, 
namely,  the  act  of  volition,  the  act  of 
understanding,  and  bodily  acts.  And 
the  first,  as  has  been  said,  is  governed 
directly  and  only  by  God ;  the  second 
by  an  Angel ;  and  the  third  is  governed, 
but  not  compelled,  by  a  celestial  body. 

Secondly,  it  is  clear  from  what  has 
been  said  that  choice  and  volition  are 
governed  directly  by  God,  as  S.  .Paul 
says:  It  is  God  Who  causeth  us  to  will 
and  to  perform,  according  to  His  good 
pleasure :  and  the  understanding  of  the 


95 

human  intellect  is  ordered  by  God 
through  the  mediation  of  the  Angels. 
Accordingly  also  all  things  corporeal, 
whether  they  be  interior  as  are  the 
powers  and  knowledge  acquired 
through  the  inner  bodily  faculties,  or 
exterior  as  are  sickness  and  health,  are 
dispensed  by  the  celestial  bodies, 
through  the  mediation  of  Angels.  And 
when  Dionysius,  in  the  fourth  chapter 
de  Diuinis  Nominibus ,  says  that  the  celes¬ 
tial  bodies  are  the  cause  of  that  which 
happens  in  this  world,  this  is  to  be 
understood  as  to  natural  health  and 
sickness.  But  the  sicknesses  we  are  con¬ 
sidering  are  supernatural,  since  they 
are  inflicted  by  the  power  of  the  devil, 
with  God’s  permission.  Therefore  we 
cannot  say  that  it  is  due  to  the  influence 
of  the  stars  that  a  man  is  bewitched; 
although  it  can  truly  be  said  that  it  is 
due  to  the  influence  of  the  stars  that 
some  men  cannot  be  bewitched. 

But  if  it  is  objected  that  these  two 
opposite  effects  must  spring  from  the 
same  cause,  and  that  the  pendulum 
must  swing  both  ways,  it  is  answered 
that,  when  a  man  is  preserved  by  the 
influence  of  the  stars  from  these  super¬ 
natural  ills,  this  is  not  due  directly  to 
the  influence  of  the  stars,  but  to  an 
angelic  power,  which  can  strengthen 
that  influence  so  that  the  enemy  with 
his  malice  cannot  prevail  against  it ; 
and  that  angelic  power  can  be  passed 
on  through  the  virtue  of  the  stars.  For 
a  man  may  be  at  the  point  of  death, 
having  reached  the  natural  term  of 
life,  and  God  in  His  power,  which  in 
such  matters  always  works  indirectly, 
may  alter  this  by  sending  some  power 
of  preservation  instead  of  the  natural 
defect  in  the  man  and  in  his  dominating 
influence.  Accordingly  we  may  say  of 
a  man  who  is  subject  to  witchcraft,  that 
he  can  in  just  the  same  way  be  pre¬ 
served  from  witchcraft,  or  that  this 
preservation  comes  of  an  Angel  deputed 
to  guard  him;  and  this  is  the  chief  of 
all  means  of  protection. 

And  when  it  is  said  in  Jeremias  xxii : 
Write  ye  this  man  childless,  a  man  that 
shall  not  prosper  in  his  days :  this  is  to 
be  understood  with  regard  to  the  choices 
of  the  will,  in  which  one  man  prospers 
and  another  does  not ;  and  this  also  can 
be  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  the  stars. 
For  example:  one  man  may  be  influ¬ 
enced  by  his  stars  to  make  a  useful 
choice,  such  as  to  enter  some  religious 
Order.  And  when  his  understanding  is 


9^ 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qu.  i.  Ch.  1. 


enlightened  to  consider  such  a  step,  and 
by  D  ivine  operation  his  will  is  inclined 
to  put  it  into  execution,  such  a  man  is 
said  to  prosper  well.  Or  similarly  when 
a  man  is  inclined  to  some  trade,  or  any¬ 
thing  that  is  useful.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  will  be  called  unfortunate  when  his 
choice  is  inclined  by  the  higher  Powers 
to  unprofitable  things. 

S.  Thomas,  in  his  third  book  of  the 
Summa  against  the  Gentiles,  and  in 
several  other  places  x  speaks  of  these  and 
many  other  opinions,  when  he  discusses 
in  what  lies  the  difference  that  one  man 
should  be  well  born  and  another  un¬ 
fortunately  born,  that  a  man  should  be 
lucky  or  unlucky,  or  well  or  badly 
governed  and  guarded.  For  according 
to  the  disposition  of  his  stars  a  man  is 
said  to  be  well  or  badly  born,  and  so 
fortunate  or  unfortunate;  and  accord¬ 
ing  as  he  is  enlightened  by  an  Angel, 
and  follows  such  enlightenment,  he  is 
said  to  be  well  or  badly  guarded.  And 
according  as  he  is  directed  by  God 
towards  good,  and  follows  it,  he  is  said 
to  be  well  governed.  But  these  choices 
have  no  place  here,  since  we  are  not 
concerned  with  them  but  with  the  pre¬ 
servation  from  witchcraft ;  and  we  have 
said  enough  for  the  present  on  this  sub¬ 
ject.  We  proceed  to  the  rites  practised 
by  witches,  and  first  to  a  consideration  of 
how  they  lure  the  innocent  into  becom¬ 
ing  partakers  of  their  perfidies. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  I 

Of  the  several  Methods  by  which  Devils 
through  Witches  Entice  and  Allure  the 
Innocent  to  the  Increase  of  that  Horrid 
Craft  and  Company. 

THERE  are  three  methods  above 
all  by  which  devils,  through  the 
agency  of  witches,  subvert  the  innocent, 
and  by  which  that  perfidy  is  continually 
being  increased.  And  the  first  is  through 
weariness,  through  inflicting  grievous 
losses  in  their  temporal  possessions. 
For,  as  S.  Gregory  says :  The  devil  often 
tempts  us  to  give  way  from  very 
weariness.  And  it  is  to  be  understood 
that  it  is  within  the  power  of  a  man  to 
resist  such  temptation;  but  that  God 
permits  it  as  a  warning  to  us  not  to  give 
way  to  sloth.  And  in  this  sense  is 
fudges  ii  to  be  understood,  where  it 
says  that  God  did  not  destroy  those 


nations,  that  through  them  He  might 
prove  the  people  of  Israel;  and  it 
speaks  of  the  neighbouring  nations  of 
the  Canaanites,  Jebusites,  and  others. 
And  in  our  time  the  Hussites  and  other 
Heretics  are  permitted,  so  that  they 
cannot  be  destroyed.  Devils,  therefore, 
by  means  of  witches,  so  afflict  their 
innocent  neighbours  with  temporal 
losses,  that  they  are  as  it  were  com¬ 
pelled,  first  to  beg  the  suffrages  of 
witches,  and  at  length  to  submit 
themselves  to  theif  counsels;  as  many 
experiences  have  taught  us. 

We  know  a  stranger  in  the  diocese  of 
Augsburg,  who  before  he  was  forty- 
four  years  old  lost  all  his  horses  in 
succession  through  witchcraft.  His  wife, 
being  afflicted  with  weariness  by  reason 
of  this,  consulted  with  witches,  and 
after  following  their  counsels,  unwhole¬ 
some  as  they  were,  all  the  horses  which 
he  bought  after  that  (for  he  was  a 
carrier)  were  preserved  from  witch¬ 
craft. 

And  how  many  women  have  com¬ 
plained  to  us  in  our  capacity  of  Inquisi¬ 
tors,  that  when  their  cows  have  been 
injured  by  being  deprived  of  their  milk, 
or  in  any  other  way,  they  have  con¬ 
sulted  with  suspected  witches,  and  even 
been  given  remedies  by  them,  on 
condition  that  they  would  promise 
something  to  some  spirit;  and  when 
they  asked  what  they  would  have  to 
promise,  the  witches  answered  that  it 
was  only  a  small  thing,  that  they 
should  agree  to  execute  the  instructions 
of  that  master  with  regard  to  certain 
observances  during  the  Holy  Offices 
of  the  Church,  or  to  observe  some  silent 
reservations  in  their  confessions  to 
priests. 

Here  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  as  has 
already  been  hinted,  this  iniquity  has 
small  and  scant  beginnings,  as  that  at 
the  time  of  the  elevation  of  the  Body  of 
Christ  they  spit  on  the  ground,  or  shut 
their  eyes,  or  mutter  some  vain  words. 
We  know  a  woman  who  yet  lives, 
protected  by  the  secular  law,  who, 
when  the  priest  at  the  celebration  of 
the  Mass  blesses  the  people,  saying, 
Dominus  uobiscum ,  always  adds  to  herself 
these  words  in  the  vulgar  tongue, 
“Kehr  mir  die  Zung  im  Arss  umb.” 
Or  they  even  say  some  such  thing  at 
confession  after  they  have  received 
absolution,  or  do  not  confess  every¬ 
thing,  especially  mortal  sins,  and  so  by 
slow  degrees  are  led  to  a  total  abnega- 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  i 


MALEFICARUM 


97 


tion  of  the  Faith,  and  to  the  abominable 
profession  of  sacrilege. 

This,  or  something  like  it,  is  the 
method  which  witches  use  towards 
honest  matrons  who  are  little  given  to 
carnal  vices  but  concerned  for  worldly 
profit.  But  towards  young  girls,  more 
given  to  bodily  lusts  and  pleasures, 
they  observe  a  different  method,  work¬ 
ing  through  their  carnal  desires  and  the 
pleasures  of  the  flesh. 

Here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  devil 
is  more  eager  and  keen  to  tempt  the 
good  than  the  wicked,  although  in 
actual  practice  he  tempts  the  wicked 
more  than  the  good,  because  more 
aptitude  for  being  tempted  is  found  in 
the  wicked  than  in  the  good.  There¬ 
fore  the  devil  tries  all  the  harder  to 
seduce  all  the  more  saintly  virgins  and 
girls ;  and  there  is  reason  in  this, 
besides  many  examples  of  it. 

For  since  he  already  possesses  the 
wicked,  but  not  the  good,  he  tries  the 
harder  to  seduce  into  his  power  the 
good  whom  he  does  not,  than  the 
wicked  whom  he  does,  possess.  Similarly 
any  earthly  prince  takes  up  arms  against 
those  who  do  not  acknowledge  his  rule 
rather  than  against  those  who  do  not 
oppose  him. 

And  here  is  an  example.  Two  witches 
were  burned  in  Ratisbon,  as  we  shall 
tell  later  where  we  treat  of  their  methods 
of  raising  tempests.  And  one  of  them, 
who  was  a  bath-woman,  had  confessed 
among  other  things  the  following :  that 
she  had  suffered  much  injury  from  the 
devil  for  this  reason.  There  was  a 
certain  devout  virgin,  the  daughter  of 
a  very  rich  man  whom  there  is  no  need 
to  name,  since  the  girl-  is  now  dead  in 
the  disposition  of  Divine  mercy,  and 
we  would  not  that  his  thoughts  should 
be  perverted  by  evil;  and  the  witch 
was  ordered  to  seduce  her  by  inviting 
her  to  her  house  on  some  Feast  Day, 
in  order  that  the  devil  himself,  in  the 
form  of  a  young  man,  might  speak  with 
her.  And  although  she  had  tried  very 
often  to  accomplish  this,  yet  whenever 
she  had  spoken  to  the  young  girl,  she 
had  protected  herself  with  the  sign  of 
the  Holy  Cross.  And  no  one  can  doubt 
that  she  did  this  at  the  instigation  of  a 
holy  Angel,  to  repel  the  works  of  the 
devil. 

Another  virgin  living  in  the  diocese 
of  Strasburg  confessed  to  one  of  us.  that 
she  was  alone  on  a  certain  Sunday  in 
her  father’s  house,  when  an  old  woman 


of  that  town  came  to  visit  her  and, 
among  other  scurrilous  words,  made 
the  following  proposition;  that,  if  she 
liked,  she  would  take  her  to  a  place 
where  there  were  some  young  men 
unknown  to  all  the  townsmen.  And 
when,  said  the  virgin,  I  consented,  and 
followed  her  to  her  house,  the  old 
woman  said,  “  See,  we  go  upstairs  to 
an  upper  room  where  the  young  men 
are ;  but  take  care  not  to  make  the  sign 
of  the  Cross.”  I  gave  my  promise  not 
to  do  so,  and  as  she  was  going  before  me 
and  I  was  going  up  the  stairs,  I  secretly 
crossed  myself.  At  the  top  of  the 
stairs,  when  we  were  both  standing 
outside  the  room,  the  hag  turned 
angrily  upon  me  with  a  horrible 
countenance,  and  looking  at  me  said, 
“  Curse  you !  Why  did  you  cross  your¬ 
self?  Go  away  from  here.  Depart  in 
the  name  of  the  devil.”  And  so  I 
returned  unharmed  to  my  home. 

It  can  be  seen  from  this  how  craftily 
that  old  enemy  labours  in  the  seduction 
of  souls.  For  it  was  in  this  way  that  the 
bath-woman  whom  we  have  men¬ 
tioned,  and  who  was  burned,  confessed 
that  she  had  been  seduced  by  some  old 
woman.  A  different  method,  however, 
was  used  in  the  case  of  her  companion 
witch,  who  had  met  the  devil  in  human 
form  on  the  road  while  she  herself  was 
going  to  visit  her  lover  for  the  purpose 
of  fornication.  And  when  the  Incubus 
devil  had  seen  her,  and  had  asked  her 
whether  she  recognized  him,  and  she 
had  said  that  she  did  not,  he  had 
answered :  “  I  am  the  devil ;  and  if  you 
wish,  I  will  always  be  ready  at  your 
pleasure,  and  will  not  fail  you  in  any 
necessity.”  And  when  she  had  con¬ 
sented,  she  continued  for  eighteen 
years,  up  to  the  end  of  her  life,  to 
practise  diabolical  filthiness  with  him, 
together  with  a  total  abnegation  of  the 
Faith  as  a  necessary  condition. 

There  is  also  a  third  method  of 
temptation  through  the  way  of  sadness 
and  poverty.  For  when  girls  have  been 
corrupted,  and  have  been  scorned  by 
their  lovers  after  they  have  immodestly 
copulated  with  them  in  the  hope  and 
promise  of  marriage  with  them,  and 
have  found  themselves  disappointed 
in  all  their  hopes  and  everywhere 
despised,  they  turn  to  the  help  and 
protection  of  devils ;  either  for  the  sake 
of  vengeance  by  bewitching  those 
lovers  or  the  wives  they  have  married, 
or  for  the  sake  of  giving  themselves 


98 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  i 


up  to  every  sort  of  lechery.  Alas! 
experience  tells  us  that  there  is  no 
number  to  such  girls,  and  consequently 
the  witches  that  spring  from  this  class 
are  innumerable.  Let  us  give  a  few  out 
of  many  examples. 

There  is  a  place  in  the  diocese  of 
Brixen  where  a  young  man  deposed 
the  following  facts  concerning  the 
bewitchment  of  his  wife. 

“  In  the  time  of  my  youth  I  loved  a 
girl  who  importuned  me  to  marry 
her;  but  I  refused  her  and  married 
another  girl  from  another  country. 
But  wishing  for  friendship’s  sake  to 
please  her,  I  invited  her  to  the  wedding. 
She  came,  and  while  the  other  honest 
women  were  wishing  us  luck  and 
offering  gifts,  she  raised  her  hand  and, 
in  the  hearing  of  the  other  women  who 
were  standing  round,  said,  You  will 
have  few  days  of  health  after  to-day. 
My  bride  was  frightened,  since  she  did 
not  know  her  (for,  as  I  have  said,  I  had 
married  her  from  another  country), 
and  asked  the  bystanders  who  she  was 
who  had  threatened  her  in  that  way; 
and  they  said  that  she  was  a  loose  and 
vagrom  woman.  None  the  less,  it 
happened  just  as  she  had  said.  For 
after  a  few  days  my  wife  was  so  be¬ 
witched  that  she  lost  the  use  of  all  her 
limbs,  and  even  now,  after  ten  years, 
the  effects  of  witchcraft  can  be  seen 
on  her  body.” 

If  we  were  to  collect  all  the  similar 
instances  which  have  occurred  in  one 
town  of  that  diocese,  it  would  take  a 
whole  book ;  but  they  are  written  and 
preserved  at  the  house  of  the  Bishop 
of  Brixen,  who  still  lives  to  testify  to 
their  truth,  astounding  and  unheard-of 
though  they  are. 

But  we  must  not  pass  over  in  silence  one 
unheard-of  and  astonishing  instance. 
A  certain  high-born  Count  in  the  ward 
of  Westerich,  in  the  diocese  of  Stras- 
burg,  married  a  noble  girl  of  equal 
birth ;  but  after  he  had  celebrated  the 
wedding,  he  was  for  three  years  unable 
to  know  her  carnally,  on  account,  as 
the  event  proved,  of  a  certain  charm 
which  prevented  him.  In  great  anxiety, 
and  not  knowing  what  to  do,  he  called 
loudly  on  the  Saints  of  God.  It  hap¬ 
pened  that  he  went  to  the  State  of 
Metz  to  negotiate  some  business;  and 
while  he  was  walking  about  the  streets 
and  squares  of  the  city,  attended  by  his 
servants  and  domestics,  he  met  a 
certain  woman  who  had  formerly  been 


his  mistress.  Seeing  her,  and  not  at  all 
thinking  of  the  spell  that  was  on  him, 
he  spontaneously  addressed  her  kindly 
for  the  sake  of  their  old  friendship, 
asking  her  how  she  did,  and  whether 
she  was  well.  And  she,  seeing  the 
Count’s  gentleness,  in  her  turn  asked 
very  particularly  after  his  health  and 
affairs ;  and  when  he  answered  that 
he  was  well,  and  that  everything 
prospered  with  him,  she  was  astonished 
and  was  silent  for  a  time.  The  Count, 
seeing  her  thus  astonished,  again  spoke 
kindly  to  her,  inviting  her  to  converse 
with  him.  So  she  inquired  after  his 
wife,  and  received  a  similar  reply,  that 
she  was  in  all  respects  well.  Then  she 
asked  if  he  had  any  children ;  and  the 
Count  said  he  had  three  sons,  one  born 
in  each  year.  At  that  she  was  more 
astonished,  and  was  again  silent  for  a 
while.  And  the  Count  asked  her,  Why, 
my  dear,  do  you  make  such  careful 
inquiries?  I  am  sure  that  you  con¬ 
gratulate  me  on  my  happiness.  Then 
she  answered,  Certainly  I  congratulate 
you ;  but  curse  that  old  woman  who  said 
she  would  bewitch  your  body  so  that 
you  could  not  have  connexion  with 
your  wife !  And  in  proof  of  this,  there 
is  a  pot  in  the  well  in  the  middle  of 
your  yard  containing  certain  objects 
evilly  bewitched,  and  this  was  placed 
there  in  order  that,  as  long  as  its 
contents  were  preserved  intact,  for  so 
long  you  would  be  unable  to  cohabit. 
But  see !  it  is  all  in  vain,  and  I  am  glad, 
etc.  On  his  return  home  the  Count 
did  not  delay  to  have  the  well  drained ; 
and,  finding  the  pot,  burned  its  con¬ 
tents  and  all,  whereupon  he  immedi¬ 
ately  recovered  the  virility  which  he 
had  lost.  Wherefore  the  Countess  again 
invited  all  the  nobility  to  a  fresh  wed¬ 
ding  celebration,  saying  that  she  was 
now  the  Lady  of  that  castle  and  estate, 
after  having  for  so  long  remained  a 
virgin.  For  the  sake  of  the  Count’s 
reputation  it  is  not  expedient  to  name 
that  castle  and  estate;  but  we  have 
related  this  story  in  order  that  the 
truth  of  the  matter  may  be  known, 
to  bring  so  great  a  crime  into  open 
detestation. 

From  this  it  is  clear  that  witches  use 
various  methods  to  increase  their 
numbers.  For  the  above-mentioned 
woman,  because  she  had  been  sup¬ 
planted  by  the  Count’s  wife,  cast  that 
spell  upon  the  Count  with  the  help  of 
another  witch;  and  this  is  how  one 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  2 


MALEFICARUM 


99 


witchcraft  brings  innumerable  others 
in  its  train. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  II 

Of  the  Way  whereby  a  Formal  Pact  with 
Evil  is  made. 

THE  method  by  which  they  profess 
their  sacrilege  through  an  open 
pact  of  fidelity  to  devils  varies  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  several  practices  to  which 
different  witches  are  addicted.  And 
to  understand  this  it  first  must  be  noted 
that  there  are,  as  was  shown  in  the 
First  Part  of  this  treatise,  three  kinds 
of  witches;  namely,  those  who  injure 
but  cannot  cure;  those  who  cure  but, 
through  some  strange  pact  with  the 
devil,  cannot  injure;  and  those  who 
both  injure  and  cure.  And  among 
those  who  injure,  one  class  in  parti¬ 
cular  stands  out,  which  can  perform 
every  sort  of  witchcraft  and  spell, 
comprehending  all  that  all  the  others 
individually  can  do.  Wherefore,  if  we 
describe  the  method  of  profession  in 
*  their  case,  it  will  suffice  also  for  all  the 
other  kinds.  And  this  class  is  made  up 
of  those  who,  against  every  instinct  of 
f  human  or  animal  nature,  are  in  the 
-  habit  of  eating  and  devouring  the 
children  of  their  own  species. 

And  this  is  the  most  powerful  class 
of  witches,  who  practise  innumerable 
other  harms  also.  For  they  raise  hail¬ 
storms  and  hurtful  tempests  and  light¬ 
nings  ;  cause  sterility  in  men  and 
animals;  offer  to  devils,  or  otherwise 
kill,  the  children  whom  they  do  not 
devour.  But  these  are  only  the  children 
who  have  not  been  re-born  by  baptism 
at  the  font,  for  they  cannot  devour 
those  who  have  been  baptized,  nor 
any  without  God’s  permission.  They 
can  also,  before  the  eyes  of  their 
parents,  and  when  no  one  is  in  sight, 
throw  into  the  water  children  walking 
by  the  water  side;  they  make  horses 
go  mad  under  their  riders;  they  can 
transport  themselves  from  place  to 
)r  place  through  the  air,  either  in  body  or 
P  in  imagination;  they  can  affect  Judges 
and  Magistrates  so  that  they  cannot 
hurt  them ;  they  can  cause  them¬ 
selves  and  others  to  keep  silence  under 
torture;  they  can  bring  about  a  great 
trembling  in  the  hands  and  horror  in  the 
minds  of  those  who  would  arrest  them ; 
they  can  show  to  others  occult  things 


H 


and  certain  future  events,  by  the 
information  of  devils,  though  this  may 
sometimes  have  a  natural  cause  (see  the 
question:  Whether  devils  can  foretell  the 
future ,  in  the  Second  Book  of  Sentences ) ; 
they  can  see  absent  things  as  if  they 
were  present ;  they  can  turn  the  minds 
of  men  to  inordinate  love  or  hatred; 
they  can  at  times  strike  whom  they  will 
with  lightning,  and  even  kill  some  men 
and  animals;  they  can  make  of  no 
effect  the  generative  desires,  and  even 
the  power  of  copulation,  cause  abortion, 
kill  infants  in  the  mother’s  womb  by  a 
mere  exterior  touch ;  they  can  at  times 
bewitch  men  and  animals  with  a  mere 
look,  without  touching  them,  and  cause 
death ;  they  dedicate,  their  own  children 
to  devils ;  and  in  short,  as  has  been  said, 
they  can  cause  all  the  plagues  which 
other  witches  can  only  cause  in  part, 
that  is,  when  the  Justice  of  God  permits 
such  things  to  be.  All  these  things  this 
most  powerful  of  all  classes  of  witches 
can  do,  but  they  cannot  undo  them. 

But  it  is  common  to  all  of  them  to  | 
practise  carnal  copulation  with  devils ; 
therefore,  if  we  show  the  method  used 
by  this  chief  class  in  their  profession  of 
their  sacrilege,  anyone  may  easily 
understand  the  method  of  the  other 
classes. 

There  were  such  witches  lately, 
thirty  years  ago,  in  the  district  of 
Savoy,  towards  the  State  of  Berne,  as 
Nider  tells  in  his  Formicarius.  And 
there  are  now  some  in  the  country  of 
Lombardy,  in  the  domains  of  the  Duke 
of  Austria,  where  the  Inquisitor 
of  Como,  as  we  told  in  the  former 
Part,  caused  forty-one  witches  to  be 
burned  in  one  year ;  and  he  was  fifty- 
nve  years  old,  and  still  continues  to 
labour  in  the  Inquisition. 

Now  the  method  of  profession  is 
twofold.  One  is  a  solemn  ceremony, 
like  a  solemn  vow.  The  other  is 
private,  and  can  be  made  to  the  devil 
at  any  hour  alone.  The  first  method  is 
when  witches  meet  together  in  con¬ 
clave  on  a  set  day,  and  the  devil 
appears  to  them  in  the  assumed  body 
of  a  man,  and  urges  them  to  keep  faith 
with  him,  promising  them  worldly 
prosperity  and  length  of  life ;  and  they 
recommend  a  novice  to  his  acceptance. 
And  the  devil  asks  whether  she  will 
abjure  the  Faith,  and  forsake  the  holy 
Christian  religion  and  the  worship  of 
the  Anomalous  Woman  (for  so  they 
call  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin  MARY), 


IOO 


MALLEUS 


and  never  venerate  the  Sacraments; 
ai?^.  ^  ^e  finds  the  novice  or  disciple 
willing,  then  the  devil  stretches  out  his 
hand,  and  so  does  the  novice,  and  she 
swears  with  upraised  hand  to  keep  that 
covenant.  And  when  this  is  done,  the 
devil  at  once  adds  that  this  is  not 
enough;  and  when  the  disciple  asks 
what  more  must  be  done,  the  devil 
demands  the  following  oath  of  homage 
to  himself:  that  she  give  herself  to  him, 
body  and  soul,  for  ever,  and  do  her 
utmost  to  bring  others  of  both  sexes 
into  his  power.  He  adds,  finally,  that 
she  is  to  make  certain  unguents  from 
the  bones  and  limbs  of  children, 
especially  those  who  have  been  bap¬ 
tized;  by  all  which  means  she  will  be 
able  to  fulfil  all  her  wishes  with  his 
help. 

We  Inquisitors  had  credible  experi¬ 
ence  of  this  method  in  the  town 
of  Breisach  in  the  diocese  of  Basel, 

|  receiving  full  information  from  a  young 
girl  witch  who  had  been  converted, 
whose  aunt  also  had  been  burned  in 
the  diocese  of  Strasburg.  And  she  added 
that  she  had  become  a  witch  by  the 
method  in  which  her  aunt  had  first 
tried  to  seduce  her. 


*  I 


ID 

I*' 


For  one  day  her  aunt  ordered  her  to 
go  upstairs  with  her,  and  at  her  com¬ 
mand  to  go  into  a  room  where  she 
found  fifteen  young  men  clothed  in 
green  garments  after  the  manner  of 
German  knights.  And  her  aunt  said 
to  her:  Choose  whom  you  wish  from 
these  young  men,  and  I  will  give  him 
to  you,  and  he  will  take  you  for  his  wife. 
And  when  she  said  she  did  not  wish  for 
any  of  them,  she  was  sorely  beaten  and 
at  last  consented,  and  was  initiated 
according  to  the  aforesaid  ceremony. 
She  said  also  that  she  was  often  trans¬ 
ported  by  night  with  her  aunt  over  vast 
distances,  even  from  Strasburg  to 
Cologne. 

This  is  she  who  occasioned  our 
inquiry  in  the  First  Part  into  the 
question  whether  witches  are  truly 
and  bodily  transported  by  devils  from 
place  to  place :  and  this  was  on  account 
of  the  words  of  the  Canon  (6,  q.  5, 
Episcopi ),  which  seem  to  imply  that 
they  are  only  so  carried  in  imagination ; 
whereas  they  are  at  times  actually  and 
bodily  transported. 

For  when  she  was  asked  whether  it 
was  only  in  imagination  and  phantasti- 
cally  that  they  so  rode,  through  an 
illusion  of  devils,  she  answered  that 


Part  II.  Qn  1.  Ch.  2 

they  did  so  in  both  ways ;  according 
to  the  truth  which  we  shall  declares 
later  of  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
transferred  from  place  to  place.  She 
said  also  that  the  greatest  injuries  were 
inflicted  by  midwives,  because  they 
were  under  an  obligation  to  kill  or 
offer  to  devils  as  many  children  as 
possible ;  and  that  she  had  been 
severely  beaten  by  her  aunt  because 
she  had  opened  a  secret  pot  and  found 
the  heads  of  a  great  many  children. 
And  much  more  she  told  us,  having 
first,  as  was  proper,  taken  an  oath  to 
speak  the  truth. 

And  her  account  of  the  method  of' 
professing  the  devil’s  faith  undoubtedly 
agrees  with  what  has  been  written  by 
that  most  eminent  Doctor,  John  Nider, 
who  even  in  our  times  has  written  very 
illuminatingly ;  and  it  may  be  especially 
remarked  that  he  tells  us  the  following, 
which  he  had  from  an  Inquisitor  of  the 
diocese  of  Edua,  who  held  many 
inquisitions  on  witches  in  that  diocese,  j 
and  caused  many  to  be  burned. 

For  he  says  that  this  Inquisitor  told 
him  that  in  the  Duchy  of  Lausanne 
certain  witches  had  cooked  and  eaten, 
their  own  children,  and  that  the  follow- !  !  ( 
ing  was  the  method  in  which  they" 
became  initiated  into  such  practices. 
The  witches  met  together  and,  by  their 
art,  summoned  a  devil  in  the  fornTof 
IfTnan,  to  whom  the  novice  was  com¬ 
pelled  to  swear  to  deny  the  Christian 
religion,  never  to  adore  the  Eucharist, 
and  to  tread  the  Cross  underfoot  when¬ 
ever  she  could  do  so  secretly. 

Here  is  another  example  from  the 
same  source.  There  was  lately  a  general 
report,  brought  to  the  notice  of  Peter 
the  Judge  in  Boltingen,  that  thirteen 
infants  had  been  devoured  in  the  State 
of  Berne;  and  public  justice  exacted 
full  vengeance  on  the  murderers.  And 
when  Peter  asked  one  of  the  captive 
witches  in  what  manner  they  ate 
children,  she  replied :  “This  is  the 
manner  of  it.  We  set  our  snares  chiefly 
for  unbaptized  children,  and  even  for 
those  that  have  been  baptized,  especi¬ 
ally  when  they  have  not  been  protected 
by  the  sign  of  the  Cross  and  prayers” 
(Reader,  notice  that,  at  the  devil’s 
command,  they  take  the  unbaptized 
chiefly,  in  order  that  they  may  not  be 
baptized),  “and  with  our  spells  we  kill 
them  in  their  cradles  or  even  when  they 
are  sleeping  by  their  parents’  side,  in 
such  a  way  that  they  afterwards  are 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  2 


MALEFICARUM 


101 


thought  to  have  been  overlain  or  to 
have  died  some  other  natural  death. 
Then  we  secretly  take  them  from  their 
graves,  and  cook  them  in  a  cauldron, 
until  the  whole  flesh  comes  away  from 
the  bones  to  make  a  soup  which  may 
easily  be  drunk.  Of  the  more  solid 
matter  we  make  an  unguent  which  is 
of  virtue  to  help  us  in  our  arts  and 
pleasures  and  our  transportations ;  and 
with  the  liquid  we  fill  a  flask  or  skin, 
whoever  drinks  from  which,  with  the 
addition  of  a  few  other  ceremonies, 
immediately  acquires  much  knowledge 
and  becomes  a  leader  in  our  sect.” 

Here  is  another  very  clear  and  dis¬ 
tinct  example.  A  young  man  and  his 
wife,  both  witches,  were  imprisoned 
in  Berne;  and  the  man,  shut  up  by 
himself  apart  from  her  in  a  separate 
tower,  said:  “If  I  could  obtain  pardon 
for  my  sins,  I  would  willingly  declare 
all  that  I  know  about  witchcraft ;  for  I 
see  that  I  ought  to  die.”  And  when  he 
was  told  by  the  learned  clerks  who  were 
there  that  he  could  obtain  complete 
pardon  if  he  truly  repented,  he  joy¬ 
fully  resigned  himself  to  death,  and 
laid  bare  the  method  by  which  he  had 
first  been  infected  with  his  heresy. 
“The  following,”  he  said,  “is  the  manner 
in  which  I  was  seduced.  It  is  first 
necessary  that,  on  a  Sunday  before 
the  consecration  of  Holy  Water,  the 

(novice  should  enter  the  church  with 
the  masters,  and  there  in  their  presence 
deny  Christ,  his  Faith,  baptism,  and  the 
whole  Church.  And  then  he  must  pay 
homage  to  the  Little  Master,  for  so  and 
not  otherwise  do  they  call  the  devil.” 
Here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  this  method 
agrees  with  those  that  have  been 
recounted ;  for  it  is  immaterial  whether 
the  devil  is  himself  present  or  not,  when 
homage  is  offered  to  him.  For  this  he 
does  in  his  cunning,  perceiving  the 
temperament  of  the  novice,  who 
might  be  frightened  by  his  actual 
presence  into  retracting  his  vows, 
whereas  he  would  be  more  easily 
persuaded  to  consent  by  those  who  are 
known  to  him.  And  therefore  they  call 
him  the  Little  Master  when  he  is 
absent,  that  through  seeming  dis¬ 
paragement  of  his  Master  the  novice 
may  feel  less  fear.  “And  then  he  drinks 
from  the  skin,  which  has  been  men- 
!  tioned,  and  immediately  feels  within 
-  himself  a  knowledge  of  all  our  arts  and 
an  understanding  of  our  rites  and  cere¬ 
monies.  And  in  this  manner  was  I 


seduced.  But  I  believe  my  wife  to  be  so 
obstinate  that  she  would  rather  go 
straight  to  the  fire  than  confess  the 
smallest  part  of  the  truth;  but,  alas! 
we  are  both  guilty.”  And  as  the  young 
man  said,  so  it  happened  in  every  S 
respect.  For  the  young  man  confessed 
and  was  seen  to  die  in  the  greatest 
contrition;  but  the  wife,  though  con¬ 
victed  by  witnesses,  would  not  confess 
any  of  the  truth,  either  under  torture 
or  in  death  itself;  but  when  the  fire 
had  been  prepared  by  the  gaoler, 
cursed  him  in  the  most  terrible  words, 
and  so  was  burned.  And  from  these 
examples  their  method  of  initiation  in  \ 
solemn  conclave  is  made  clear. 

The  other  private  method  is  variously 
performed.  For  sometimes  when  men 
or  women  have  been  involved  in  some 
bodily  or  temporal  affliction,  the  devil 
comes  to  them,  at  times  in  person,  and 
at  times  speaking  to  them  through  the 
mouth  of  someone  else ;  and  he 
promises  that,  if  they  will  agree  to  his 
counsels,  he  will  do  for  them  whatever 
they  wish.  But  he  starts  from  small 
things,  as  was  said  in  the  first  chapter, 
and  leads  gradually  to  the  bigger 
things.  We  could  mention  many 
examples  which  have  come  to  our 
knowledge  in  the  Inquisition,  but, 
since  this  matter  presents  no  difficulty, 
it  can  briefly  be  included  with  the 
previous  matter. 

A  Few  Points  are  to  be  Noticed  in  the 

Explanation  of  their  Oath  of  Homage. 

Now  there  are  certain  points  to  be 
noted  concerning  the  homage  which 
the  devil  exacts,  as,  namely,  for  what 
reason  and  in  what  different  ways  he 
does  this.  It  is  obvious  that  his  prin¬ 
cipal  motive  is  to  offer  the  greater 
offence  to  the  Divine  Majesty  by 
usurping  to  himself  a  creature  dedi¬ 
cated  to  God,  and  thus  more  certainly 
to  ensure  his  disciple’s  future  damnation, 
which  is  his  chief  object.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  often  found  by  us  that  he  has 
received  such  homage  for  a  fixed  term 
of  years  at  the  time  of  the  profession 
of  perfidy;  and  sometimes  he  exacts 
the  profession  only,  postponing  the 
homage  to  a  later  day. 

And  let  us  declare  that  the  profession 
consists  in  a  total  or  partial  abnegation 
of  the  Faith:  total,  as  has  been  said 
before,  when  the  Faith  is  entirely 
abjured ;  partial,  when  the  original 


102 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  2 


pact  makes  it  incumbent  on  the  witch 
to  observe  certain  ceremonies  in  opposi¬ 
tion  to  the  decrees  of  the  Church,  such 
as  fasting  on  Sundays,  eating  meat  on 
Fridays,  concealing  certain  crimes  at 
confession,  or  some  such  profane  thing. 
But  let  us  declare  that  homage  consists 
in  the  surrender  of  body  and  soul. 

And  we  can  assign  four  reasons  why 
the  devil  requires  the  practice  of  such 
things.  For  we  showed  in  the  First 
Part  of  this  treatise,  when  we  examined 
whether  devils  could  turn  the  minds 
of  men  to  love  or  hatred,  that  they 
cannot  enter  the  inner  thoughts  of 
the  heart,  since  this  belongs  to  God 
alone.  But  the  devil  can  arrive  at  a 
knowledge  of  men’s  thoughts  by  con¬ 
jecture,  as  will  be  shown  later.  There¬ 
fore,  if  that  cunning  enemy  sees  that  a 
novice  will  be  hard  to  persuade,  he 
approaches  her  gently,  exacting  only 
small  things  that  he  may  gradually 
lead  her  to  greater  things. 

Secondly,  it  must  be  believed  that 
there  is  some  diversity  among  those 
who  deny  the  Faith,  since  some  do  so 
with  their  lips  but  not  in  their  heart, 
and  some  both  with  their  lips  and  in 
their  heart.  Therefore  the  devil,  wish¬ 
ing  to  know  whether  their  profession 
comes  from  the  heart  as  well  as  from 
the  lips,  sets  them  a  certain  period, 
so  that  he  may  understand  their  minds 
from  their  works  and  behaviour. 

Thirdly,  if  after  the  lapse  of  a  set 
time  he  find  that  she  is  less  willing  to 
perform  certain  practices,  and  is  bound 
to  him  only  by  word  but  not  in  her 
heart,  he  presumes  that  the  Divine 
Mercy  has  given  her  the  guardianship 
of  a  good  Angel,  which  he  knows  to 
be  of  great  power.  Then  he  casts  her 
off,  and  tries  to  expose  her  to  temporal 
afflictions,  so  that  he  gain  some  profit 
from  her  despair. 

The  truth  of  this  is  clear.  For  if  it 
is  asked  why  some  witches  will  not 
confess  the  truth  under  even  the 
greatest  tortures,  while  others  readily 
confess  their  crimes  when  they  are 
questioned  (and  some  of  them,  after 
they  have  confessed,  try  to  kill  them¬ 
selves  by  hanging),  the  reason  is  as 
follows.  It  may  truly  be  said  that, 
when  it  is  not  due  to  a  Divine  impulse 
conveyed  through  a  holy  Angel  that  a 
witch  is  made  to  confess  the  truth  and 
abandon  the  spell  of  silence,  then  it  is 
due  to  the  devil  whether  she  preserves 
/  silence  or  confesses  her  crimes.  The 


former  is  the  case  with  those  whom  he 
knows  to  have  denied  the  Faith  both 
with  their  lips  and  in  their  hearts,  and 
also  to  have  given  him  their  homage ; 
for  he  is  sure  of  their  constancy.  But 
in  the  latter  case  he  withdraws  his 
protection,  since  he  knows  that  they 
are  of  no  profit  to  him. 

We  have  often  learned  from  the 
confessions  of  those  whom  we  have 
caused  to  be  burned,  that  they  have 
trot  been  willing  agents  of  witchcraft. 
And  they  have  not  said  this  in  the  hope 
of  escaping  damnation,  for  its  truth  is 
witnessed  by  the  blows  and  stripes 
which  they  have  received  from  devils 
when  they  have  been  unwilling  to 
perform  their  orders,  and  we  have 
often  seen  their  swollen  and  livid 
faces.  Similarly,  after  they  have  con¬ 
fessed  their  crimes  under  torture  they 
always  try  to  hang  themselves;  and 
this  we  know  for  a  fact;  for  after  the 
confession  of  their  crimes,  guards  are 
deputed  to  watch  them  all  the  time, 
and  even  then,  when  the  guards  have 
been  negligent,  they  have  been  found 
hanged  with  their  shoe-laces  or  gar¬ 
ments.  For,  as  we  have  said,  the  devil 
causes  this,  lest  they  shotlld  obtain 
pardon  through  contrition  or  sacra¬ 
mental  confession ;  and  those  whose 
hearts  he  cannot  seduce  from  finding 
grace  with  God,  he  tries  to  lead  into 
despair  through  worldly  loss  and  a 
horrible  death.  However,  through  the 
great  grace  of  God,  as  it  is  pious  to 
believe,  they  can  obtain  forgiveness  by 
true  contrition  and  pure  confession, 
when  they  have  not  been  willing 
participators  in  those  foul  and  filthy 
practices. 


c 

f, 


i 


A 

i 


s 


This  is  exemplified  by  certain  events 
which  took  place  hardly  three  years 
ago  in  the  dioceses  of  Strasburg  and 
Constance,  and  in  the  towns  of  Hage- 
nau  and  Ratisbon.  For  in  the  first 
town  one  hanged  herself  with  a  trifling 
and  flimsy  garment.  Another,  named 
Walpurgis,  was  notorious  for  her 
power  of  preserving  silence,  and  used 
to  teach  other  women  how  to  achieve 
a  like  quality  of  silence  by  cooking 
their  first-born  sons  in  an  oven.  Many 
such  examples  are  to  our  hand,  as  they 
are  also  in  the  case  of  others  burned 
in  the  second  town,  some  of  which 
will  be  related. 

And  there  is  a  fourth  reason  why  the 
devil  exacts  a  varying  degree  of  homage, 
making  it  relatively  small  in  some 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  2 


MALEFICARUM 


103 


cases  because  he  is  more  skilful  than 
Astronomers  in  knowing  the  length  of 
human  life,  and  so  can  easily  fix  a  term 
which  he  knows  will  be  preceded  by 
death,  or  can,  in  the  manner  already 
told,  forestall  natural  death  with  some 
accident. 

All  this,  in  short,  can  be  shown  by 
the  actions  and  behaviour  of  witches. 
But  first  we  can  deduce  the  astuteness 
of  the  devil  in  such  things.  For  accord¬ 
ing  to  S.  Augustine  in  the  de  Natura 
Daemonis* seven  reasons  are  assigned 
why  devils  can  conjecture  probable 
future  events,  though  they  cannot  know 
them  certainly.  The  first  is  that  they 
have  a  natural  subtlety  in  their  under¬ 
standing,  by  which  they  arrive  at  their 
knowledge  without  the  process  of 
reasoning  which  is  necessary  for  us. 
Secondly,  by  their  long  experience  and 
by  revelation  of  supernal  spirits,  they 
know  more  than  we  do.  For  S.  Isidore 
says  that  the  Doctors  have  often 
affirmed  that  devils  derive  their  mar¬ 
vellous  cunning  from  three  sources, 
their  natural  subtlety,  their  long  experi¬ 
ence,  and  the  revelation  of  supernal 
spirits.  The  third  reason  is  their 
rapidity  of  motion,  by  which  they  can 
with  miraculous  speed  anticipate  in 
the  West  things  which  are  happening 
in  the  East.  Fourthly,  just  as  they  are 
able,  with  God’s  permission,  to  cause 
diseases  and  famines,  so  also  they  can 
predict  them.  Fifthly,  they  can  more 
cunningly  read  the  signs  of  death  than 
a  physician  can  by  looking  at  the 
urine  or  feeling  the  pulse.  For  just  as 
a  physician  sees  signs  in  a  sick  man 
which  a  layman  would  not  notice,  so 
the  devil  sees  what  no  man  can 
naturally  see.  Sixthly,  they  can  by 
signs  which  proceed  from  a  man’s 
mind  conjecture  more  astutely  than 
the  wisest  men  what  is  or  will  be  in 
that  man’s  mind.  For  they  know  what 
impulses,  and  therefore  what  actions, 
will  probably  follow.  Seventhly,  they 
understand  better  than  men  the  acts 
and  writings  of  the  Prophets,  and, 
since  on  these  much  of  the  future 
depends,  they  can  foretell  from  them 
much  that  will  happen.  Therefore  it 
is  not  wonderful  that  they  can  know  the 
natural  term  of  a  man’s  life ;  though  it 
is  different  in  the  case  of  the  accidental 


*  “De  Natura  Daemonis ”  “De  Diuinatione 
Daemonum”  written  406-11 .  Migne,  “ Patres 
Latini  ”  XL,  pp.  §8i-g2. 


term  when  a  witch  is  burned ;  for  this  1 
the  devil  ultimately  causes  when,  as  J 
has  been  said,  he  finds  a  witch  reluctant,  '| 
and  fears  for  her  conversion ;  whereas  » 
he  protects  even  up  to  their  natural 
death  others  whom  he  knows  to  be  his  P| 
willing  agents. 

Let  us  give  examples  of  both  these 
cases,  which  are  known  to  us.  There 
was  in  the  diocese  of  Basel,  in  a  town 
called  Oberweiler  situated  on  the 
Rhine,  an  honest  parish  priest,  who 
fondly  held  the  opinion,  or  rather  error, 
that  there  was  no  witchcraft  in  the 
world,  but  that  it  only  existed  in  the 
imagination  of  men  who  attributed 
such  things  to  witches.  And  God 
wished  so  to  purge  him  of  this  error 
that  he  might  even  be  made  aware 
of  the  practice  of  devils  in  setting  a  term 
to  the  lives  of  witches.  For  as  he  was 
hastening  to  cross  a  bridge,  on  some 
business  that  he  had  to  do,  he  met  a 
certain  old  woman  in  his  hurry,  and 
would  not  give  way  to  her,  but  pressed 
on  so  that  he  thrust  the  old  woman  into 
the  mud.  She  indignantly  broke  into 
a  flood  of  abuse,  and  said  to  him, 
“Father,  you  will  not  cross  with 
impunity.”  And  though  he  took  small 
notice  of  those  words,  in  the  night, 
when  he  wished  to  get  out  of  his  bed, 
he  felt  himself  bewitched  below  the 
waist,  so  that  he  always  had  to  be 
supported  by  the  arms  of  other  men 
when  he  wished  to  go  to  the  church; 
and  so  he  remained  for  three  years, 
under  the  care  of  his  own  mother. 
After  that  time  the  old  woman  fell 
sick,  the  hag  whom  he  had  always 
suspected  as  being  the  cause  of  his 
witchcraft,  owing  to  the  abusive  words 
with  which  she  had  threatened  him; 
and  it  happened  that  she  sent  to  him 
to  hear  her  confession.  And  though  the 
priest  angrily  said,  “Let  her  confess  to 
the  devil  her  master,”  yet,  at  the 
instance  of  his  mother,  he  went  to  the 
house  supported  by  two  servants,  and 
sat  at  the  head  of  the  bed  where  the 
witch  lay.  And  the  two  servants  lis¬ 
tened  outside  the  window,  so  eager 
were  they  to  know  whether  she  would 
confess  that  she  had  bewitched  the 
priest.  Now  it  happened  that,  though 
she  made  no  mention  in  her  confession 
of  having  been  the  cause  of  his  malady, 
after  the  confession  was  finished,  she 
said,  “Father,  do  you  know  who 
bewitched  you?”  And  when  he  gently 
answered  that  he  did  not,  she  added, 


104 


MALLEUS 


“You  suspect  me,  and  with  reason; 
for  know  that  I  brought  it  upon  you 
for  this  reason,”  explaining  as  we  have 
already  told.  And  when  he  begged  to 
be  liberated,  she  said,  “Lo!  the  set 
time  has  come,  and  I  must  die;  but  I 
will  so  cause  it  that  in  a  few  days,  after 
my  death,  you  will  be  healed.”  And 
so  it  happened.  For  she  died  at  the 
time  fixed  by  the  devil,  and  within 
thirty  days  the  priest  found  himself 
completely  healed  one  night.  The  name 
of  that  priest  is  Father  Hasslin,  and  he 
lives  yet  in  the  diocese  of  Strasburg. 

Similarly  in  the  diocese  of  Basel,  in 
the  village  called  Buchel,  near  the 
town  of  Gewyll,  this  happened.  A 
certain  woman  was  taken,  and  finally 
burned,  who  for  six  years  had  had  an 
Incubus  devil,  even  when  she  was  lying 
in  bed  by  the  side  of  her  husband. 
And  this  she  did  three  times  a  week, 
on  Sundays,  Tuesdays,  and  Thursdays, 
and  on  some  of  the  other  more  holy 
}  nights.*  But  the  homage  she  had  given 
to  the  devil  was  of  such  a  sort  that  she 
was  bound  to  dedicate  herself  body 
and  soul  to  him  for  ever,  after  seven 
years.  But  God  provided  mercifully : 
for  she  was  taken  in  the  sixth  year  and 
condemned  to  the  fire,  and  having 
truly  and  completely  confessed,  is 
believed  to  have  obtained  pardon  from 
God.  For  she  went  most  willingly  to 
her  death,  saying  that  she  would  gladly 
suffer  an  even  more  terrible  death, 
if  only  she  could  be  set  free  from  and 
escape  the  power  of  the  devil. 


☆ 

CHAPTER  III 

How  they  are  Transported  from  Place  to 

Place. 

AND  now  we  must  consider  their 
ceremonies  and  in  what  manner 
they  proceed  in  their  operations,  first 
in  respect  of  their  actions  towards 
themselves  and  in  their  own  persons. 
And  among  their  chief  operations  are 
being  bodily  transported  from  place  to 
place,  and  to  practise  carnal  connexion 
with  Incubus  devils,  which  we  shall 
treat  of  separately,  beginning  with  their 

*  Holy  Nights Saturday ,  however ,  was 
always  particularly  avoided  as  being  the  day 
sacred  to  the  I mmaculate  Mother  of  God.  See  my 
History  of  Witchcraft c.  IV ,  pp.  115-16. 


Part  II.  Qn  1.  Gh.  3 

bodily  vectitation.  But  here  it  must  be 
notea  that  this  transvection  offers  a 
difficulty,  which  has  often  been  men¬ 
tioned,  arising  from  one  single  author¬ 
ity,  where  it  is  said :  It  cannot  be  ad¬ 
mitted  as  true  that  certain  wicked 
women,  perverted  by  Satan  and  seduced 
by  the  illusions  and  phantasms  of  devils, 
do  actually,  as  they  believe  and  pro¬ 
fess,  ride  in  the  night-time  on  certain 
beasts  with  Diana,  a  goddess  of  the 
Pagans,  or  with  Herodias  and  an  in¬ 
numerable  multitude  of  women,  and  in 
the  untimely  silence  of  night  pass  over 
immense  tracts  of  land,  and  have  to 
obey  her  in  all  things  as  their  Mistress, 
etc.  Wherefore  the  priests  of  God  ought 
to  preach  to  the  people  that  this  is  alto¬ 
gether  false,  and  that  such  phantasms 
are  sent  not  by  God,  but  by  an  evil 
Spirit  to  confuse  the  minds  of  the  faith¬ 
ful.  F or  Satan  himself  transforms  him¬ 
self  into  various  shapes  and  forms ;  and 
by  deluding  in  dreams  the  mind  which 
he  holds  captive,  leads  it  through 
devious  ways,  etc. 

And  there  are  those  who,  taking  their 
example  from  S.  Germain  and  a  cer¬ 
tain  other  man  who  kept  watch  over 
his  daughter  to  determine  this  matter, 
sometimes  preach  that  this  is  an  alto¬ 
gether  impossible  thing;  and  that  it  is 
indiscreet  to  ascribe  to  witches  and  their 
operations  such  levitations,  as  well  as 
the  injuries  which  happen  to  men, 
animals,  and  the  fruits  of  the  earth; 
since  just  as  they  are  the  victims  of 
phantasy  in  their  transvections,  so  also 
are  they  deluded  in  the  matter  of  the 
harm  they  wreak  on  living  creatures. 

But  this  opinion  was  refuted  as  hereti¬ 
cal  in  the  First  Question;  for  it  leaves 
out  of  account  the  Divine  permission 
with  regard  to  the  devil’s  power,  which 
extends  to  even  greater  things  than 
this :  and  it  is  contrary  to  the  meaning 
of  Sacred  Scripture,  and  has  caused 
intolerable  damage  to  Holy  Church, 
since  now  for  many  years,  thanks  to  this 
pestiferous  doctrine,  witches  have  re¬ 
mained  unpunished,  because  the  secular 
courts  have  lost  their  power  to  punish 
them.  Therefore  the  diligent  reader 
will  consider  what  was  there  set  down 
for  the  stamping  out  of  that  opinion, 
and  will  for  the  present  note  how  they 
are  transported,  and  in  what  ways  this 
is  possible,  of  which  some  examples 
will  be  adduced. 

It  is  shown  in  various  ways  that  they; 
can  be  bodily  transported;  and  first,:; 


MALEFICARUM 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  3 

from  the  operations  of  other  Magicians. 
For  if  they  could  not  be  transported,  it 
would  either  be  because  God  does  not 
permit  it,  or  because  the  devil  cannot 
do  this  since  it  is  contrary  to  nature. 
It  cannot  be  for  the  first  reason,  for  both 
greater  and  less  things  can  be  done  by 
the  permission  of  God;  and  greater 
things  are  very  often  done  both  to 
children  and  men,  even  to  just  men 
confirmed  in  grace. 

For  when  it  is  asked  whether  sub¬ 
stitutions  of  children  can  be  effected  by 
the  work  of  devils,  and  whether  the 
devil  can  carry  a  man  from  place  to 
t  place  even  against  his  will ;  to  the  first 
question  the  answer  is,  Yes.  For  Wil¬ 
liam  of  Paris  says  in  the  last  part  of  his 
De  Uniuerso:  Substitutions  of  children 
are,  with  God’s  permission,  possible,  so 
that  the  devil  can  effect  a  change  of  the 
child  or  even  a  transformation.  For 
such  children  are  always  miserable 
and  crying;  and  although  four  or  five 
mothers  could  hardly  supply  enough 
milk  for  them,  they  never  grow  fat,  yet 
are  heavy  beyond  the  ordinary.  But 
this  should  neither  be  affirmed,  nor 
denied  to  women,  on  account  of  the 
great  fear  which  it  may  cause  them,  but 
they,  should  be  instructed  to  ask  the 
opinion  of  learned  men.  For  God  per¬ 
mits  this  on  account  of  the  sins  of  the 
parents,  in  that  sometimes  men  curse 
their  pregnant  wives,  saying,  May  you 
be  carrying  a  devil !  or  some  such  thing 
In  the  same  way  impatient  women  often 
say  something  of  the  sort.  And  many 
examples  have  been  given  by  other 
men,  some  of  them  pious  men. 

ForVincent  of  Beauvais  (Spec.  Hist., 
XXVI,  43)  relates  a  story  told  by  S. 
Peter  Damian*  of  a  five-year-old  son  of 
a  nobleman,  who  was  for  the  time  living 
m  a.  monastery ;  and  one  night  he  was 
carried  out  of  the  monastery  into  a 
locked  mill,  where  he  was  found  in  the 
morning.  And  when  he  was  questioned, 
he  said  that  he  had  been  carried  by 
some  men  to  a  great  feast  and  bidden  to 
eat;  and  afterwards  he  was  put  into  the 
mill  through  the  roof. 

And  what  of  those  Magicians  whom 
we  generally  call  Necromancers,  who 


S  Peter  Damian.”  Doctor  of  the  Church, 

Cardinal-Bishop  of  Ostia,  born  at  Ravenna 
1007;  died  at  Faenza,  21  February,  1072.  His 
works,  which  have  been  more  than  once  collected 
may  be  conveniently  found  in  Mime ,  “Patres 
Latini,”  CXLIV-CXLV. S  & 


105 

are  often  carried  through  the  air  by 
devils  for  long  distances?  And  some¬ 
times  they  even  persuade  others  to  go 
with  them  on  a  horse,  which  is  not  really 
a  horse  but  a  devil  in  that  form,  and, 
as  they  say,  thus  warn  their  companions 
not  to  make  the  sign  of  the  Cross. 

And  though  we  are  two  who  write 
this  book,  one  of  us  has  very  often  seen 
and  known  such  men.  For  there  is  a 
man  who  was  once  a  scholar,  and  is  » 
now  believed  to  be  a  priest  in  the 
diocese  of  Freising,  who  used  to  say 
that  at  one  time  he  had  been  bodily 
carried  through  the  air  by  a  devil,  and 
taken  to  the  most  remote  parts. 

There  lives  another  priest  in  Ober- 
dorf,  a  town  near  Landshut,  who  was 
at  that  time  a  friend  of  that  one  of  us, 
who  saw  with  his  own  eyes  such  a 
transportation,  and  tells  how  the  man 
was  borne  on  high  with  arms  stretched 
out,  shouting  but  not  whimpering.  And 
the  cause,  as  he  tells  it,  was  as  follows. 

A  number  of  scholars  had  met  together 
to  drink  beer,  and  they  all  agreed  that 
the  one  who  fetched  the  beer  should 
not  have  to  pay  anything.  And  so  one 
of  them  was  going  to  fetch  the  beer,  and 
on  opening  the  door  saw  a  thick  cloud 
before  the  grunsel,  and  returning  in 
terror  told  his  companions  why  he 
would  not  go  for  the  drink.  Then  that 
one  of  them  who  was  carried  away  said 
angrily:  “Even  if  the  devil  were  there, 

I  shall  fetch  the  drink.”  And,  going 
out,  he  was  carried  through  the  air  in 
the  sight  of  all  the  others. 

And  indeed  it  must  be  confessed  that 
such  things  can  happen  not  only  to 
those  who  are  awake,  but  also  to  men 
who  are  asleep ;  namely,  they  can  be 
bodily  transported  through  the  air 
while  they  are  fast  asleep. 

This  is  clear  in  the  case  of  certain 
men  who  walk  in  their  sleep  on  the  roofs 
of  houses  and  over  the  highest  buildings, 
and  no  one  can  oppose  their  progress 
either  on  high  or  below.  And  if  they  are 
called  by  their  own  names  by  the  other 
bystanders,  they  immediately  fall  crash¬ 
ing  to  the  ground. 

Many  think,  and  not  without  reason.  7 
that  this  is  devils’  work.  For  devils  are 
of  many  different  kinds,  and  some,  who 
fell  from  the  lower  choir  of  Angels,  are 
tortured  as  if  for  smaller  sins  with 
lighter  punishments  as  well  as  the 
punishment  of  damnation  which  they 
must  suffer  eternally.  And  these  can¬ 
not  hurt  anybody,  at  least  not  seri- 


1 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  3 


106 


.V 


1 1  ously,  but  for  the  most  part  carry  out 
only  practlcaTjoCes.  And  others  are 

- nnnJ.li  nwm 


r 


Incubi  or  Succubi,  who  punish  men  in 
the  night,  defiling  them  in  the  sin  of 
lechery.  It  is  not  wonderful  if  they  are 
given  also  to  horse-play  such  as  this. 

The  truth  can  be  deduced  from  the 
words  of  Gassian,  Collationes  I,  where  he 
says  that  there  is  no  doubt  that  there 
are  as  many  different  unclean  spirits  as 
there  are  different  desires  in  men.  For 
it  is  manifest  that  some  of  them,  which 
the  common  people  call  Fauns,  and 
we  call  Trolls,  which  abound  in  Nor¬ 
way,  are  such  buffoons  and  jokers  that 
they  haunt  certain  places  and  roads 
and,  without  being  able  to  do  any  hurt 
to  those  who  pass  by,  are  content  with 
mocking  and  deluding  them,  and  try  to 
weary  them  rather  than  hurt  them. 
And  some  of  them  only  visit  men  with 
harmless  nightmares.  But  others  are  so 
furious  and  truculent  that  they  are  not 
content  to  afflict  with  an  atrocious  dila¬ 
tion  the  bodies  of  those  whom  they 
,  inflate,  but  even  come  rushing  from  on 
!  high  and  hasten  to  strike  them  with  the 
most  savage  blows.  Our  author  means 
that  they  do  not  only  possess  men,  but 
torture  them  horribly,  as  did  those 
which  are  described  in  S.  Matthew  viii. 

From  this  we  can  conclude,  first  that 
it  must  not  be  said  that  witches  cannot 
be  locally  transported  because  God 
does  not  permit  it.  For  if  He  permits  it 
in  the  case  of  the  just  and  innocent,  and 
of  other  Magicians,  how  should  He  not 
in  the  case  of  those  who  are  totally 
dedicated  to  the  devil?  And  we  say 
with  all  reverence:  Did  not  the  devil 
take  up  Our  Saviour,  and  carry  Him  up 
to  a  high  place,  as  the  Gospel  testifies? 

Neither  can  the  second  argument  of 
our  opponents  be  conceded,  that  the 
devil  cannot  do  this  thing.  For  it  has 
already  been  shown  that  he  has  so 
great  natural  power,  exceeding  all 
corporeal  power,  that  there  is  no  earthly 
power  that  can  be  compared  with  him ; 
as  it  is  said  :  “There  is  no  power  on  earth 
that  can  be  compared  with  him,”  etc. 
Indeed  the  natural  power  or  virtue 
which,  is  in  Lucifer  is  so  great  that  there 
is  none  greater  among  the  good  Angels 
in  Heaven.  For  just  as  he  excelled  all 
the  Angels  in  his  nature,  and  not  his 
nature,  but  only  his  grace,  was  dimin¬ 
ished  by  his  Fall,  so  that  nature  still 
remains  in  him,  although  it  is  darkened 
and  bound.  Wherefore  the  gloss  on 
that  “There  is  no  power  on  earth”  says : 


Although  he  excels  all  things,  yet  he  is 
subject  to  the  merits  of  the  Saints. 

Two  objections  which  someone  may 
bring  forward  are  not  valid.  First,  that 
man’s  soul  could  resist  him,  and  that 
the  text  seems  to  speak  of  one  devil  in 
particular,  since  it  speaks  in  the  sin¬ 
gular,  namely  Lucifer.  And  because  it 
was  he  who  tempted  Christ  in  the  wil¬ 
derness,  and  seduced  the  first  man,  he 
is  now  bound  in  chains.  And  the  other 
Angels  are  not  so  powerful,  since  he 
excels  them  all.  Therefore  the  other 
spirits  cannot  transport  wicked  men 
through  the  air  from  place  to  place. 

These  arguments  have  no  force.  For, 
to  consider  the  Angels  first,  even  the 
least  Angel  is  incomparably  superior  to 
all  human  power,  as  can  be  proved  in 
many  ways.  First,  a  spiritual  is  stronger 
than  a  corporeal  power,  and  so  is  the 
power  of  an  Angel,  or  even  of  the  soul, 
greater  than  that  of  the  body.  Secondly, 
as  to  the  soul ;  every  bodily  shape  owes 
its  individuality  to  matter,  and,  in  the 
case  of  human  beings,  to  the  fact  that 
a  soul  informs  it ;  but  immaterial  forms 
are  absolute  intelligences,  and  there¬ 
fore  have  an  absolute  and  more  universal 
power.  For  this  reason,  the  soul  when 
joined  to  the  body  cannot  in  this  way 
suddenly  transfer  its  body  locally  or 
raise  it  up  in  the  air ;  although  it  could 
easily  do  so,  with  God’s  permission,  if 
it  were  separate  from  its  body.  Much 
more,  then,  is  this  possible  to  an  entirely 
immaterial  spirit,  such  as  a  good  or  bad 
Angel.  For  a  good  Angel  transported 
Habacuc*  in  a  moment  from  Judaea 

*  “ Habacuc .”  “ Daniel ”  xiv,  32-38:  32. 
Now  there  was  in  Judea  a  prophet  called 
Habacuc ,  and  he  had  boiled  pottage ,  and  had 
broken  bread  in  a  bowl:  and  was  going  into  the 
field ,  to  carry  it  to  the  reapers. 

33.  And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  said  to 
Habacuc:  Carry  the  dinner  which  thou  hast  into 
Babylon  to  Daniel ,  who  is  in  the  lions’  den. 

34.  And  Habacuc  said:  Lord,  I  never  saw 
Babylon,  nor  do  I  know  the  den. 

33.  And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  took  him  by 
the  top  of  his  head,  and  carried  him  by  the  hair 
on  his  head,  and  set  him  in  Babylon  over  the  den 
in  the  force  of  his  spirit. 

36.  And  Habacuc  cried,  saying:  0  Daniel, 
thou  servant  of  God,  take  the  dinner  that  God 
hath  sent  thee. 

3J.  And  Daniel  said:  Thou  hast  remembered 
me,  0  God,  and  thou  hast  not  forsaken  them  that 
love  thee. 

38.  And  Daniel  arose  and  ate.  And  the  angel 
of  the  Lord  presently  set  Habacuc  again  in  his 
own  place. 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  3 


MALEFICARUM 


107 


to  Chaldaea.  And  for  this  reason  it  is 
concluded  that  those  who  by  night  are 
carried  in  their  sleep  over  high  buildings 
are  not  carried  by  their  own  souls,  nor 
by  the  influence  of  the  stars,  but  by 
some  mightier  power,  as  was  shown 
above. 

Thirdly,  it  is  the  nature  of  the  body 
to  be  moved,  as  to  place,  directly  by  a 
spiritual  nature ;  and,  as  Aristotle  says. 
Physics ,  VIII,  local  motion  is  the  first  of 
motions,  being  the  most  perfect  of  all 
bodily  motions;  and  he  proves  this  by 
saying  that  local  motion  is  not  intrinsic¬ 
ally  in  the  power  of  any  body  as  such, 
but  is  due  to  some  exterior  force. 

Wherefore  it  is  concluded,  not  so 
much  from  the  holy  Doctors  as  from  the 
Philosophers,  that  the  highest  bodies, 
that  is,  the  stars,  are  moved  by  spiritual 
essences,  and  by  separate  Intelligences 
which  are  good  both  by  nature  and  in 
intention.  For  we  see  that  the  soul  is 
the  prime  and  chief  cause  of  local 
motion  in  the  body. 

It  must  be  said,  therefore,  that 
neither  in  its  physical  capacity  nor  in 
that  of  its  soul  can  the  human  body 
resist  being  suddenly  transported  from 
place  to  place,  with  God’s  permission, 
by  a  spiritual  essence  good  both  in 
intention  and  by  nature,  when  the  good, 
who  are  confirmed  in  grace,  are  trans- 
orted ;  or  by  an  essence  good  by  nature, 
ut  not  good  in  intention,  when  the 
wicked  are  transported.  Any  who  wish 
may  refer  to  S.  Thomas  in  three  articles 
in  Part  I,  question  90,  and  again  in  his 
question  concerning  Sin,  and  also  in 
the  Second  Book  of  Sentences ,  jdist.  7,  on 
the  power  of  devils  over  bodily  effects. 

Now  the  following  is  their  method  of 
being  transported.  They  take  the  un¬ 
guent*  which,  as  we  have  said,  they 
make  at  the  devil’s  instruction  from  the 
limbs  of  children,  particularly  of  those 
whom  they  have  killed  before  baptism, 
and  anoint  with  it  a  chair  or  a  broom- 
1  f  stick ;  whereupon  they  are  immediately 
carried  up  into  the  air,  either  by  day  or 
j  by  night,  and  either  visibly  or,  if  they 
j  wish,  invisibly ;  for  the  devil  can  con- 


*  Henry  Boguet,  “ Discours  des  Sorciers,” 
Lyons,  iggo,  'XVI,  4,  points  out  that  this 
flying  ointment  is  of  itself  useless.  The  actual 
formulae  for  its  confection  have  been  preserved 
and  the  employment  thereof  is  to  be  considered, 
say  most  demonolo gists ,  as  a  piece  of  vain  and 
empty  ceremony  of  Satan,  yet  more  to  delude  his 
votaries. 


ceal  a  body  by  the  interposition  of 
some  other  substance,  as  was  shown  in 
the  First  Part  of  the  treatise  where  we 
spoke  of  the  glamours  and  illusions 
caused  by  the  devil.  And  although  the 
devil  for  the  most  part  performs  this 
by  means  of  this  unguent,  to  the  end 
that  children  should  be  deprived  of  the 
grace  of  baptism  and  of  salvation,  yet 
he  often  seems  to  effect  the  same  trans-  ; 
vection  without  its  use.  For  at  times  he 
transports  the  witches  on  animals, 
which  are  not  true  animals  but  devils  in 
that  form ;  and  sometimes  even  without 
any  exterior  help  they  are  visibly 
carried  solely  by  the  operation  of  the 
devil’s  power. 

Here  is  an  instance  of  a  visible  trans- 
vection  in  the  day-time.  In  the  town 
of  Waldshut  on  the  Rhine,  in  the  diocese 
of  Constance,  there  was  a  certain  witch 
who  was  so  detested  by  the  townsfolk 
that  she  was  not  invited  to  the  celebra¬ 
tion  of  a  wedding  at  which,  however, 
nearly  all  the  other  townsfolk  were 
present.  Being  indignant  because  of 
this,  and  wishing  to  be  revenged,  she 
summoned  a  devil  and,  telling  him  the 
cause  of  her  vexation,  asked  him  to 
raise  a  hailstorm  and  drive  all  the  wed¬ 
ding  guests  from  their  dancing ;  and  the 
devil  agreed,  and  raising  her  up, 
carried  her  through  the  air  to  a  hill  near  /  • 
the  town,  in  the  sight  of  some  shepherds.  f 
And  since,  as  she  afterwards  confessed, | 
she  had  no  water  to  pour  into  the 
trench  (for  this,  as  we  shall  show,  is  the 
method  they  use  to  raise  hailstorms),  I 
she  made  a  small  trench  and  filled  it  J 
with  her  urine  instead  of  water,  and 
stirred  it  with  her  finger,  after  their/ 
custom,  with  the  devil  standing  by. 
Then  the  devil  suddenly  raised  that 
liquid  up  and  sent  a  violent  storm  of 
hailstones  which  fell  only  on  the  dancers 
and  townsfolk.  And  when  they  had 
dispersed  and  were  discussing  among 
themselves  the  cause  of  that  storm,  the 
witch  shortly  afterwards  entered  the 
town ;  and  this  greatly  aroused  their 
suspicions.  But  when  the  shepherds  had 
told  what  they  had  seen,  their  suspicions 
became  almost  a  certainty.  So  she  was 
arrested,  and  confessed  that  she  had 
done  this  thing  because  she  had  not 
been  invited  to  the  wedding:  and  for 
this,  and  for  many  other  witchcrafts 
which  she  had  perpetrated,  she  was 
burned. 

And  since  the  public  report  of  this 
sort  of  transvection  is  continually  being 


io8 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  3 


spread  even  among  the  common  people, 
it  is  unnecessary  to  add  further  proof 
of  it  here.  But  we  hope  that  this  will 
suffice  to  refute  those  who  either  deny 
altogether  that  there  are  such  trans- 
vections,  or  try  to  maintain  that  they 
are  only  imaginary  or  phantastical. 
And,  indeed,  it  would  be  a  matter  of 
small  importance  if  such  men  were  left 
in  their  error,  were  it  not  that  this  error 
tends  to  the  damage  of  the  Faith.  For 
notice  that,  not  content  with  that  error, 
they  do  not  fear  to  maintain  and  pub¬ 
lish  others  also,  to  the  increase  of 
witches  and  the  detriment  of  the  Faith. 
For  they  assert  that  all  the  witchcraft 
which  is  truly  and  actually  ascribed  to 
witches  as  instruments  of  the  devil  is 
only  so  ascribed  in  imagination  and 
illusion,  as  if  they  were  really  harmless, 
just  as  their  transvection  is  only  phan- 
tastic.  And  for  this  reason  many  witches 
remain  unpunished,  to  the  great  dis¬ 
praise  of  the  Creator,  and  to  their  own 
most  heavy  increase. 

5  The  arguments  on  which  they  base 
their  fallacy  cannot  be  conceded.  For 
first  they  advance  the  chapter  of  the 
Canon  [Episcopi,  26,  q.  5),  where  it  is 
said  that  witches  are  only  transported 
in  imagination ;  but  who  is  so  foolish  as 
to  conclude  from  this  that  they  cannot 
also  be  bodily  transported?  similarly 
at  the  end  of  that  chapter  it  is  set  down 
that  whoever  believes  that  a  man  can 
be  changed  for  the  better  or  the  worse, 
or  can  be  transformed  into  another 
shape,  is  to  be  thought  worse  than  an 
infidel  or  a  pagan ;  but  who  could  con¬ 
clude  from  this  that  men  cannot  be 
transformed  into  beasts  by  a  glamour, 
or  that  they  cannot  be  changed  from 
health  to  sickness  and  from  better  to 
worse?  They  who  so  scratch  at  the 
surface  of  the  words  of  the  Canon  hold 
an  opinion  which  is  contrary  to  that  of 
all  the  holy  Doctors,  and,  indeed, 
against  the  teaching  of  Holy  Scripture. 

For  the  contrary  opinion  is  abun¬ 
dantly  proved  by  what  has  been  writ¬ 
ten  in  various  places  in  the  First  Part 
of  this  treatise;  and  it  is  necessary  to 
study  the  inner  meaning  of  the  words  of 
the  Canon.  And  this  was  examined  in 
the  First  Question  of  the  First  Part  of 
the  treatise,  in  refuting  the  second  of 
three  errors  which  are  there  con¬ 
demned,  and  where  it  is  said  that  four 
things  are  to  be  preached  to  the  people. 
For  they  are  transported  both  bodily 
and  phantastically,  as  is  proved  by  their 


own  confessions,  not  only  of  those  who 
have  been  burned,  but  also  of  others 
who  have  returned  to  penitence  and  the 
Faith. 

Among  such  there  was  the  woman  in 
the  town  of  Breisach  whom  we  asked 
whether  they  could  be  transported  only 
in  imagination,  or  actually  in  the  body ; 
and  she  answered  that  it  was  possible  in 
both  ways.  For  if  they  do  not  wish  to 
be  bodily  transferred,  but  want  to  know 
all  that  is  being  done  in  a  meeting  of 
their  companions,  then  they  observe 
the  following  procedure.  In  the  name 
of  all  the  devils  they  lie  down  to  sleep 
on  their  left  side,  and  then  a  sort  of 
bluish  vapour  comes  from  their  mouth, 
through  which  they  can  clearly  see  what 
is  happening.  But  if  they  wish  to  be 
bodily  transported,  they  must  observe 
the  method  which  has  been  told. 

Besides,  even  if  that  Canon  be  under¬ 
stood  in  its  bare  meaning  without  any 
explanation,  who  is  so  dense  as  to  main¬ 
tain  on  that  account  that  all  their  witch¬ 
craft  and  injuries  are  phantastic  and 
imaginary,  when  the  contrary  is  evident 
to  the  senses  of  everybody?  Especially 
since  there  are  many  species  of  super¬ 
stition,  namely,  fourteen ;  among  which 
the  species  of  witches  holds  the  highest 
degree  in  spells  and  injuries,  and  the 
species  of  Pythonesses,  to  which  they 
can  be  reduced,  which  is  only  able  to 
be  transported  in  imagination,  holds  the 
lowest  degree. 

And  we  do  not  concede  that  their 
error  can  be  substantiated  by  the 
Legends  of  S.  Germain*  and  certain 
others.  For  it  was  possible  for  the  devils 
to  lie  down  themselves  by  the  side  of  the 
sleeping  husbands,  during  the  time 
when  a  watch  was  being  kept  on  the 
wives,  just  as  if  they  were  sleeping  with 
their  husbands.  And  we  do  not  say 
that  this  was  done  for  any  reverence 
felt  for  the  Saint;  but  the  case  is  put 
that  the  opposite  of  what  is  set  down  in 
the  Legend  may  not  be  believed  to  be 
impossible. 

In  the  same  way  all  other  objections 
can  be  answered :  that  it  is  found  that 
some  witches  are  transported  only  in 
imagination,  but  that  it  is  also  found  in 
the  writings  of  the  Doctors  that  many 


*  “5.  Germain .”  Bishop  of  Auxerre,  bom 
circa  380;  died  at  Ravenna ,  31  July ,  448.  His 
body  was  brought  back  to  Auxerre,  and  later 
there  arose  the  celebrated  Benedictine  Abbey 
known  as  St.  Germain's. 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  4 


MALEFICARUM 


109 


have  been  bodily  transported.  Who¬ 
ever  wishes  may  refer  to  Thomas  of 
Brabant  in  his  book  about  Bees,  and  he 
will  find  many  wonderful  things  con¬ 
cerning  both  the  imaginary  and  the 
bodily  transvection  of  men. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  IV 

Here  follows  the  Way  whereby  Witches 
copulate  with  those  Devils  known  as 
Incubi. 

AS  to  the  method  in  which  witches 
copulate  with  Incubus  devils,  six 
points  are  to  be  noted.  First,  as  to  the 
devil  and  the  body  which  he  assumes, 
of  what  element  it  is  formed.  Second, 
as  to  the  act,  whether  it  is  always  accom¬ 
panied  with  the  injection  of  semen  re¬ 
ceived  from  some  other  man.  Third,  as 
to  the  time  and  place,  whether  one  time 
is  more  favourable  than  another  for  this 
practice.  Fourth,  whether  the  act  is 
visible  to  the  women,  and  whether  only 
those  who  were  begotten  in  this  way  are 
so  visited  by  devils.  Fifth,  whether  it 
applies  only  to  those  who  were  offered 
to  the  devil  at  birth  by  mid  wives.  Sixth, 
whether  the  actual  venereal  pleasure  is 
greater  or  less  in  this  act.  And  we  will 
speak  first  of  the  matter  and  quality  of 
the  body  which  the  devil  assumes. 

It  must  be  said  that  he  assumes  an 
aerial  body,  and  that  it  is  in  some 
respects  terrestrial,  in  so  far  as  it  has  an 
earthly  property  through  condensation ; 
and  this  is  explained  as  follows.  The  air 
cannot  of  itself  take  definite  shape,  ex¬ 
cept  the  shape  of  some  other  body  in 
which  it  is  included.  And  in  that  case 
it  is  not  bound  by  its  own  limits,  but  by 
those  of  something  else ;  and  one  part 
of  the  air  continues  into  the  next  part. 
Therefore  he  cannot  simply  assume  an 
aerial  body  as  such. 

Know,  moreover,  that  the  air  is  in 
every  way  a  most  changeable  and  fluid 
matter :  and  a  sign  of  this  is  the  fact  that 
when  any  have  tried  to  cut  or  pierce 
with  a  sword  the  body  assumed  by  a 
devil,  they  have  not  been  able  to;  for 
the  divided  parts  of  the  air  at  once  join 
together  again.  From  this  it  follows 
that  air  is  in  itself  a  very  competent 
matter,  but  because  it  cannot  take  shape 
unless  some  other  terrestrial  matter  is 
joined  with  it,  therefore  it  is  necessary 
that  the  air  which  forms  the  devil’s 


assumed  body  should  be  in  some  way 
inspissated,  and  approach  the  property 
of  the  earth,  while  still  retaining  its  true 
property  as  air.  And  devils  and  dis.- 
embodied  spirits  can  effect  this  con¬ 
densation  by  means  of  gross  vapours 
raised  from  the  earth,  and  by  collecting 
them  together  into  shapes  in  which  they 
abide,  not  as  defilers  of  them,  but  only 
as  their  motive  power  which  gives  to 
that  body  the  formal  appearance  of  life, 
in  very  much  the  same  way  as  the  soul 
informs  the  body  to  which  it  is  joined. 
They  are,  moreover,  in  these  assumed 
and  shaped  bodies  like  a  sailor  in  a  ship 
which  the  wind  moves. 

So  when  it  is  asked  of  what  sort  is  the 
body  assumed  by  the  devil,  it  is  to  be 
said  that  with  regard  to  its  material,  it 
is  one  thing  to  speak  of  the  beginning  of 
its  assumption,  and  another  thing  to 
speak  of  its  end.  For  in  the  beginning 
it  is  just  air;  but  in  the  end  it  is  inspis¬ 
sated  air,  partaking  of  some  of  the 
properties  of  earth.  And  all  this  the 
devils,  with  God’s  permission,  can  do 
of  their  own  nature;  for  the  spiritual 
nature  is  superior  to  the  bodily.  There¬ 
fore  the  bodily  nature  must  obey  the 
devils  in  respect  of  local  motion,  though 
not  in  respect  of  the  assumption  of 
natural  shapes,  either  accidental  or  sub¬ 
stantial,  except  in  the  case  of  some  small 
creatures  (and  then  only  with  the  help 
of  some  other  agent,  as  has  been  hinted 
before).  But  as  to  local  motion,  no 
shape  is  beyond  their  power ;  thus  they 
can  move  them  as  they  wish,  in  such 
circumstances  as  they  will. 

From  this  there  may  arise  an  inci¬ 
dental  question  as  to  what  should  be 
thought  when  a  good  or  bad  Angel  per¬ 
forms  some  of  the  functions  of  life  by 
means  of  true  natural  bodies,  and  not  in 
aerial  bodies ;  as  in  the  case  of  Balaam’s 
ass,  through  which  the  Angel  spoke, 
and  when  devils  take  possession  of 
bodies.  It  is  to  be  said  that  those  bodies 
are  not  called  assumed,  but  occupied. 
See  S.  Thomas,  II.  8,  Whether  Angels 
assume  bodies.  But  let  us  keep  strictly 
to  our  argument. 

In  what  way  is  it  to  be  understood 
that  devils  talk  with  witches,  see  them, 
hear  them,  eat  with  them,  and  copulate 
with  them  ?  And  this  is  the  second  part 
of  this  first  difficulty. 

For  the  first,  it  is  to  be  said  that  three 
things  are  required  for  true  conversa¬ 
tion  :  namely,  lungs  to  draw  in  the  air ; 
and  this  is  not  only  for  the  sake  of  pro- 


no 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  4 


ducing  sound,  but  also  to  cool  the  heart ; 
and  even  mutes  have  this  necessary 
quality. 

Secondly,  it  is  necessary  that  some 
percussion  be  made  of  a  body  in  the  air, 
as  a  greater  or  less  sound  is  made  when 
one  beats  wood  in  the  air,  or  rings  a 
bell.  For  when  a  substance  that  is  sus¬ 
ceptible  to  sound  is  struck  by  a  sound- 
producing  instrument,  it  gives  out  a 
sound  according  to  its  size,  which  is 
received  in  the  air  and  multiplied  to 
the  ears  of  the  hearer,  to  whom,  if  he  is 
far  off,  it  seems  to  come  through  space. 

Thirdly,  a  voice  is  required;  and  it 
may  be  said  that  what  is  called  Sound 
in  inanimate  bodies  is  called  Voice  in 
living  bodies.  And  here  the  tongue 
strikes  the  respirations  of  air  against  an 
instrument  or  living  natural  organ 
provided  by  God.  And  this  is  not  a  bell, 
which  is  called  a  sound,  whereas  this  is 
a  voice.  And  this  third  requisite  may 
clearly  be  exemplified  by  the  second; 
and  I  have  set  this  down  that  preachers 
may  have  a  method  of  teaching  the 
people. 

And  fourthly,  it  is  necessary  that  he 
who  forms  the  voice  should  mean  to 
express  by  means  of  that  voice  some 
concept  of  the  mind  to  someone  else, 
and  that  he  should  himself  understand 
what  he  is  saying;  and  so  manage  his 
voice  by  successively  striking  his  teeth 
with  his  tongue  in  his  mouth,  by  open¬ 
ing  and  shutting  his  lips,  and  by  sending 
the  air  struck  in  his  mouth  into  the 
outer  air,  that  in  this  way  the  sound  is 
reproduced  in  order  in  the  ears  of  the 
hearer,  who  then  understands  his 
meaning. 

To  return  to  the  point.  Devils  have 
no  lungs  or  tongue,  though  they  can 
show  the  latter,  as  well  as  teeth  and  lips, 
artificially  made  according  to  the  con¬ 
dition  of  their  body;  therefore  they 
cannot  truly  and  properly  speak.  But 
since  they  have  understanding,  and 
when  they  wish  to  express  their  mean¬ 
ing,  then,  by  some  disturbance  of  the 
air  included  in  their  assumed  body,  not 
of  air  breathed  in  and  out  as  in  the  case 
of  men,  they  produce,  not  voices,  but 
sounds  which  have  some  likeness  to 
voices,  and  send  them  articulately 
through  the  outside  air  to  the  ears  of 
the  hearer.  And  that  the  likeness  of  a 
voice  can  be  made  without  the  respira¬ 
tion  of  air  is  clear  from  the  case  of 
other  animals  which  do  not  breathe,  but 
are  said  to  make  a  sound,  as  do  also 


certain  other  instruments,  as  Aristotle 
says  in  the  de  Anima.  For  certain  fishes, 
when  they  are  caught,  suddenly  utter  a 
cry  outside  the  water,  and  die. 

All  this  is  applicable  to  what  follows, 
so  far  as  the  point  where  we  treat  of  the 
generative  function,  but  not  as  regards 
good  Angels.  If  anyone  wishes  to  in¬ 
quire  further  into  the  matter  of  devils 
speaking  in  possessed  bodies,  he  may 
refer  to  S.  Thomas  in  the  Second  Book  of 
Sentences ,  dist.  8,  art.  5.  For  in  that  case 
they  use  the  bodily  organs  of  the  pos¬ 
sessed  body;  since  they  occupy  those 
bodies  in  respect  of  the  limits  of  their 
corporeal  quantity,  but  not  in  respect  of 
the  limits  of  their  essence,  either  of  the 
body  or  of  the  soul.  Observe  a  distinc¬ 
tion  between  substance  and  quantity,  or 
accident.  But  this  is  impertinent. 

For  now  we  must  say  in  what  manner 
they  see  and  hear.  Now  sight  is  of  two 
kinds,  spiritual  and  corporeal,  and  the 
former  infinitely  excels  the  latter ;  for  it 
can  penetrate,  and  is  not  hindered  by 
distance,  owing  to  the  faculty  of  light  of 
which  it  makes  use.  Therefore  it  must 
be  said  that  in  no  way  does  an  Angel, 
either  good  or  bad,  see  with  the  eyes  of 
its  assumed  body,  nor  does  it  use  any 
bodily  property  as  it  does  in  speaking, 
when  it  uses  the  air  and  the  vibration  of 
the  air  to  produce  sound  which  becomes 
reproduced  in  the  ears  of  the  hearer. 
Wherefore  their  eyes  are  painted  eyes. 
And  they  freely  appear  to  men  in  these 
likenesses  that  they  may  manifest  to 
them  their  natural  properties  and  con¬ 
verse  with  them  spiritually  by  these 
means. 

For  with  this  purpose  the  holy  Angels 
have  often  appeared  to  the  Fathers  at 
the  command  of  God  and  with  His  per¬ 
mission.  And  the  bad  angels  manifest 
themselves  to  wicked  men  in  order  that 
men,  recognizing  their  qualities,  may 
associate  themselves  with  them,  here  in 
sin,  and  elsewhere  in  punishment. 

S.  Dionysius,  at  the  end  of  his  Celestial 
Hierarchy ,  says :  In  all  parts  of  the  human 
body  the  Angel  teaches  us  to  consider 
their  properties :  concluding  that  since 
corporeal  vision  is  an  operation  of  the 
living  body  through  a  bodily  organ, 
which  devils  lack,  therefore  in  their 
assumed  bodies,  just  as  they  have  the 
likeness  of  limbs,  so  they  have  the  like¬ 
ness  of  their  functions. 

And  we  can  speak  in  the  same  way  of 
their  hearing,  which  is  far  finer  than 
that  of  the  body;  for  it  can  know  the 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  4 


MALEFICARUM 


in 


concept  of  the  mind  and  the  conversa¬ 
tion  of  the  soul  more  subtly  than  can  a 
man  by  hearing  the  mental  concept 
through  the  medium  of  spoken  words. 
See  S.  Thomas,  the  Second  Book  of  Sen¬ 
tences ,  dist.  8.  For  if  the  secret  wi|hes  of 
a  man  are  read  in  his  face,  and  phy¬ 
sicians  can  tell  the  thoughts  of  the  heart 
from  the  heart-beats  and  the  state  of  the 
pulse,  all  the  more  can  such  things  be 
known  by  devils. 

And  we  may  say  as  to  eating,  that  in 
the  complete  act  of  eating  there  are  four 
processes.  Mastication  in  the  mouth, 
swallowing  into  the  stomach,  digestion 
in  the  stomach,  and  fourthly,  metabol¬ 
ism  of  the  necessary  nutriment  and 
ejection  of  what  is  superfluous.  All 
Angels  can  perform  the  first  two  pro¬ 
cesses  of  eating  in  their  assumed  bodies, 
but  not  the  third  and  fourth;  but  in¬ 
stead  of  digesting  and  ejecting  they  have 
another  power  by  which  the  food  is  sud¬ 
denly  dissolved  in  the  surrounding 
matter.  In  Christ  the  process  of  eating 
was  in  all  respects  complete,  since  He 
had  the  nutritive  and  metabolistic 
powers ;  not,  be  it  said,  for  the  purpose 
of  converting  the  food  into  His  own 
body,  for  those  powers  were,  like  His 
body,  glorified;  so  that  the  food  was 
suddenly  dissolved  in  His  body,  as  when 
one  throws  water  on  to  fire. 

How  in  Modem  Times  Witches  perform  the 
Carnal  Act  with  Incubus  Devils ,  and  how 
they  are  Multiplied  by  this  Means. 

But  no  difficulty  arises  out  of  what 
has  been  said,  with  regard  to  our  prin¬ 
cipal  subject,  which  is  the  carnal  act 
which  Incubi  in  an  assumed  body  per¬ 
form  with  witches :  unless  perhaps  any¬ 
one  doubts  whether  modern  witches 
practise  such  abominable  coitus;  and 
whether  witches  had  their  origin  in  this 
abomination. 

In  answering  these  two  doubts  we 
shall  say,  as  to  the  former  of  them, 
something  of  the  activities  of  the  witches 
who  lived  in  olden  times,  about  1400 
years  before  the  Incarnation  of  Our 
Lord.  It  is,  for  example,  unknown 
whether  they  were  addicted  to  these 
filthy  practices  as  modern  witches  have 
been  since  that  time;  for  so  far  as  we 
know  history  tells  us  nothing  on  this 
subject.  But  no  one  who  reads  the  his¬ 
tories  can  doubt  that  there  have  always 
been  witches,  and  that  by  their  evil 
works  much  harm  has  been  done  to 


men,  animals,  and  the  fruits  of  the 
earth,  and  that  Incubus  and  Succubus 
devils  have  always  existed ;  for  the  tra¬ 
ditions  of  the  Canons  and  the  holy 
Doctors  have  left  and  handed  down  to 
posterity  many  things  concerning  them 
through  many  hundreds  of  years.  Yet 
there  is  this  difference,  that  in  times 
long  past  the  Incubus  devils  used  to 
infest  women  against  their  wills,  as  is 
often  shown  by  Nider  in  his  Formicarius , 
and  by  Thomas  of  BrabanT^tiT  hls  j 
book  on  the  Universal  Goof  or  on  / 
Bees. 

But  the  theory  that  modern  witches 
are  tainted  with  this  sort  of  diabolic 
filthiness  is  not  substantiated  only  in 
our  opinion,  since  the  expert  testimony 
°f the  witches  themselve^has  made  all 
these  things  credible ;  and  'fKaFfEey'Ho 
riot  now,  as  in  times  past,  subject  them¬ 
selves  unwillingly,  but  willingly  em¬ 
brace  this  most  foul  and  miserable  servi¬ 
tude.  For  how  many  women  have  we 
left  to  be  punished  by  secular  law  in 
various  dioceses,  especially  in  Con¬ 
stance  and  the  town  of  Ratisbon, 
who  have  been  for  many  years  addicted 
to  these  abominations,  some  from  their 
twentieth  and  some  from  their  twelfth 
or  thirteenth  year,  and  always  with 
total  or  partial  abnegation  of  the  Faith? 
All  the  inhabitants  of  those  places  are 
witnesses  of  it.  For  without  reckoning 
those  who  secretly  repented,  and  tSose 
who  returned  to  the  Faith,  no  less  than 
forty-eight  have  been  burned  in  five 
years.  And  there  was  no  question  oft 
credulity  in  accepting  their  stones  be¬ 
cause  they  turned  to  free  repentance; 
for  they  all  agreed  in  this,  namely,  that 
they  were  bound  to  indulge  in  these 
lewd  practices  in  order  that  the  ranks  of 
their  perfidy  might  be  increased.  But 
we  shall  treat  of  these  individually  in 
the  Second  Part  of  this  work,  where\ 
their  particular  deeds  are  described;} 
omitting  those  which  came  under  the 
notice  of  our  colleague  the  Inquisitor 
of  Como  in  the  County  of  Burbia,  who 
in  the  space  of  one  year,  which  was  the 
year  of  grace  1485,  caused  forty-one 
witches  to  be  burned  ;wTio  all  publicly 
affirmed,  as  it  is  said,  that  they  had 

§ractised  these  abominations  with 
evils.  Therefore  this  matter  is  fully 
substantiated  by  eye-witnesses,  by  hear¬ 
say,  and  the  testimony  of  credible  wit¬ 
nesses. 

As  for  the  second  doubt,  whether 
witches  had  their  origin  from  these 


112 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  4 


abominations,  we  may  say  with  S. 
Augustine  that  it  is  true  that  all  the 
superstitious  arts  had  their  origin  in  a 
pestilent  association  of  men  with  devils. 
For  he  says  so  in  his  work  On  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Doctrine:  All  this  sort  of  practices, 
whether  of  trifling  or  of  noxious  super¬ 
stition,  arose  from  some  pestilent  asso¬ 
ciation  of  men  with  devils,  as  though 
some  pact  of  infidel  and  guileful  friend¬ 
ship  had  been  formed,  and  they  are  all 
utterly  to  be  repudiated.  Notice  here 
that  it  is  manifest  that,  as  there  are 
various  kinds  of  superstition  or  magic 
arts,  and  various  societies  of  those  who 
practise  them ;  and  as  among  the  tour- 
I  j  teen  kinds  of  that  art  the  gpecies  of 
witches  is  the  worst,  since  they  have  not 
a  Tacit  but  an  overt  and  expressed  pact 
with  the  devil,  and  more  than  this,  have 
to  acknowledge  a  form  of  devil-worship 
through  abjuring  the  Faith;  therefore 
it  follows  that  witches  hold  the  worst 
kind  of  association  with  devils,  with 
especial  reference  to  the  behaviour  of 
women,  who  always  delight  in  vain 
things. 

Notice  also  S.  Thomas,  the  Second 
Book  of  Sentences  (dist.  4,  art.  4),  in  the 
solution  of  an  argument,  where  he  asks 
whether  those  begotten  in  this  way  by 
devils  are  more  powerful  than  other 
men.  He  answers  that  this  is  the  truth, 
basing  his  belief  not  only  on  the  text  of 
Scripture  in  Genesis  vi :  And  the  same 
became  the  mighty  men  which  were  of 
old ;  but  also  on  the  following  reason. 
Devils  know  how  to  ascertain  the  virtue 
in  semen :  first,  by  the  temperament  of 
him  from  whom  the  semen  is  obtained ; 
secondly,  by  knowing  what  woman  is 
most  fitted  for  the  reception  of  that 
semen ;  thirdly,  by  knowing  what  con¬ 
stellation  is  favourable  to  that  corporeal 
effect ;  and  we  may  add,  fourthly,  from 
their  own  words  we  learn  that  those 
whom  they  beget  have  the  best  sort  of 
disposition  for  devils’  work.  When  all 
these  causes  so  concur,  it  is  concluded 
that  men  born  in  this  way  are  powerful 
and  big  in  body. 

Therefore,  to  return  to  the  question 
whether  witches  had  their  origin  in 
these  abominations,  we  shall  say  that 
they  originated  from  some  pestilent 
mutual  association  with  devils,  as  is 
clear  from  our  first  knowledge  of  them. 
But  no  one  can  affirm  with  certainty 
that  they  did  not  increase  and  multiply 
by  means  of  these  fouls  practices,  al- 
hthoug,  devils  commit  this  deed  for  the 


sake  not  of  pleasure  but  of  corruption. 
And  this  appears  to  be  the  order  of  the 
process.  A  Succubus  devil  draws  the 
semen  from  a  wicked  man ;  and  if  he  is 
that  man’s  own  particular  devil,  and 
does  not  wish  to  make  himself  an  In¬ 
cubus  to  a  witch,  he  passes  that  semen 
on  to  the  devil  deputed  to  a  woman  or 
witch;  and  this  last,  under  some  con¬ 
stellation  that  favours  his  purpose  that 
the  man  or  woman  so  born  should 
be  strong  in  the  practice  of  witch¬ 
craft,  becomes  the  Incubus  to  the 
witch. 

And  it  is  no  objection  that  those  of 
whom  the  text  speaks  were  not  witches 
but  only  giants  and  famous  and  power¬ 
ful  men ;  for,  as  was  said  before,  witch¬ 
craft  was  not  perpetrated  in  the  time  of 
the  law  of  Nature,  because  of  the  recent 
memory  of  the  Creation  of  the  world, 
which  left  no  room  for  Idolatry.  But 
when  the  wickedness  of  man  began  to 
increase,  the  devil  found  more  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  disseminate  this  kind  01  per¬ 
fidy.  Nevertheless,  it  is  not  to  be  under¬ 
stood  that  those  who  were  said  to  be 
famous  men  were  necessarily  so  called 
by  reason  of  their  good  virtues. 

Whether  the  Relations  of  an  Incubus  Devil 
with  a  Witch  are  always  accompanied 
by  the  Injection  of  Semen. 

To  this  question  it  is  answered  that 
the  devil  has  a  thousand  ways  and 
means  of  inflicting  injury,  and  from  the 
time  of  his  first  Fall  has  tried  to  destroy 
the  unity  of  the  Church,  and  in  every 
way  to  subvert  the  human  race.  There¬ 
fore  no  infallible  rule  can  be  stated  as  to 
this  matter,  but  there  is  this  probable 
distinction:  that  a  witch  is  either  old 
and  sterile,  or  she  is  not.  And  if  she  is, 
then  he  naturally  associates  with  the 
witch  without  the  injection  of  semen, 
since  it  would  be  of  no  use,  and  the  devil 
avoids  superfluity  in  his  operations  as 
far  as  he  can.  But  if  she  is  not  sterile,  he 
approaches  her  in  the  way  of  carnal 
delectation  which  is  procured  for  the 
witch.  And  should  she  be  disposed  to 
pregnancy,  then  if  he  can  conveniently 
possess  the  semen  extracted  from  some 
man,  he  does  not  delay  to  approach  her 
with  it  for  the  sake  of  infecting  her 
progeny. 

But  if  it  is  asked  whether  he  is  able  to 
collect  the  semen  emitted  in  some  noc¬ 
turnal  pollution  in  sleep,  just  as  he  col¬ 
lects  that  which  is  spent  in  the  carnal 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  4 


MALEFICARUM 


act,  the  answer  is  that  it  is  probable 
that  he  cannot,  though  others  hold  a 
contrary  opinion.  For  it  must  be  noted 
that,  as  has  been  said,  the  devils  pay 
attention  to  the  generative  virtue  of  the 
semen,  and  such  virtue  is  more  abun¬ 
dant  and  better  preserved  in  semen 
obtained  by  the  carnal  act,  being 
wasted  in  the  semen  that  is  due  to 
nocturnal  pollutions  in  sleep,  which 
arises  only  from  the  superfluity  of  the 
humours  and  is  not  emitted  with  so 
great  generative  virtue.  Therefore  it  is 
believed  that  he  does  not  make  use 
of  such  semen  for  the  generation  of 
progeny,  unless  perhaps  he  knows  that 
the  necessary  virtue  is  present  in  that 
semen. 

But  this  also  cannot  altogether  be 
denied,  that  even  in  the  case  of  a  mar¬ 
ried  witch  who  has  been  impregnated 
by  her  husband,  the  devil  can,  by  the 
commixture  of  another  semen,  infect 
that  which  has  been  conceived. 

Whether  the  Incubus  operates  more  at  one 
Time  than  another:  and  similarly  of  the 
Place. 

To  the  question  whether  the  devil 
observes  times  and  places  it  is  to  be  said 
that,  apart  from  his  observation  of  cer¬ 
tain  times  and  constellations  when  his 
purpose  is  to  effect  the  pollution  of  the 
progeny,  he  also  observes  certain  times 
when  his  object  is  not  pollution,  but  the 
causing  of  venereal  pleasure  on  the  part 
of  the  witch;  and  these  are  the  most 
sacred  times  of  the  whole  year,  such  as 
Christmas,  Easter,  Pentecost,  and  other 
Feast  Days. 

And  the  devils  do  this  for  three 
reasons.  First,  that  in  this  way  witches 
may  become  imbued  not  only  with  the 
vice  of  perfidy  through  apostasy  from 
the  Faith,  but  also  with  that  of  Sacri¬ 
lege,  and  that  the  greater  offence  may 
be  done  to  the  Creator,  and  the  heavier 
damnation  rest  upon  the  souls  of  the 
witches. 

The  second  reason  is  that  when  God 
is  so  heavily  offended,  He  allows  them 
greater  power  of  injuring  even  inno¬ 
cent  men  by  punishing  them  either  in 
their  affairs  or  their  bodies.  For  when 
it  is  said :  “The  son  shall  not  bear  the 
iniquity  of  the  father,”  etc.,  this  refers 
only  to  eternal  punishment,  for  very 
often  the  innocent  are  punished  with 
/temporal  afflictions  on  account  of  the 
•I  sins  of  others.  Wherefore  in  another 


II3 

place  God  says :  “I  am  a  mighty  and 
jealous  God,  visiting  the  sins  of  the 
fathers  unto  the  third  and  fourth  genera¬ 
tion.”*  Such  punishment  was  exempli¬ 
fied  in  the  children  of  the  men  of  Sodom, 
who  were  destroyed  for  their  fathers* 
sins. 

The  third  reason  is  that  they  have  / 
greater  opportunity  to  observe  many 
people,  especially  young  girls,  who  on  j 
Feast  Days  are  more  intent  on  idleness  1 
and  curiosity,  and  are  therefore  more 
easily  seduced  by  old  witches.  And 
the  following  happened  in  the  native 
country  of  one  of  us  Inquisitors  (for 
there  are  two  of  us  collaborating  in  this 
work) . 

A  certain  young  girl,  a  devout  virgin, 
was  solicited  one  Feast  Day  by  an  old 
woman  to  go  with  her  upstairs  to  a 
room  where  there  were  some  very 
beautiful  young  men.  And  when  she 
consented,  and  as  they  were  going  up¬ 
stairs  with  the  old  woman  leading  the 
way,  she  warned  the  girl  not  to  make 
the  sign  of  the  Gross.  And  though  she 
agreed  to  this,  yet  she  secretly  crossed 
herself.  Consequently  it  happened  that, 
when  they  had  gone  up,  the  virgin  saw 
no  one,  because  the  devils  who  were 
there  were  unable  to  show  themselves  in 
assumed  bodies  to  that  virgin.  And  the 
old  woman  cursed  her,  saying :  Depart 
in  the  name  of  all  the  devils ;  why  did 
you  cross  yourself  ?  This  I  had  from  the  J  f 
frank. relation  of  that  good  and  honest) 
maiden.  - 

A  fourth  reason  can  be  added, 
namely,  that  they  can  in  this  way  more 
easily  seduce  men,  by  causing  them  to 
think  that  if  God  permits  such  things  to 
be  done  at  the  most  holy  times,  it  cannot 
be  such  a  heavy  sin  as  if  He  did  not  per¬ 
mit  them  at  such  times. 

With  regard  to  the  question  whether 
they  favour  one  place  more  than 
another,  it  is  to  be  said  that  it  is  proved 
by  the  words  and  actions  of  witches 
that  they  are  quite  unable  to  commit  |  \  t  y 
these  abominations  in  sacred  places.  * 

And  in  this  can  be  seen  the  efficacy  of 
the  Guardian  Angels,  that  such  places 
are  reverenced.  And  further,  witches 
assert  that  they  never  have  any  peace 
except  at  the  time  of  Divine  Service 
when  they  are  present  in  the  church; 
and  therefore  they  are  the  first  to  enter 
and  the  last  to  leave  the  church.  Never¬ 
theless,  they  are  bound  to  observe  cer- 


*  “  Generation.”  “ Exodus ”  xx,  5:  xxxiv}  7. 


MALLEUS 


n4 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  5 


tain  other  abominable  ceremonies  at  the 
command  of  the  devils,  such  as  to  spit 
on  the  ground  at  the  Elevation  of  the 
Host,  or  to  utter,  either  verbally  or 
otherwise,  the  filthiest  thoughts,  as :  I 
wish  you  were  in  such  or  such  a  place. 
This  matter  is  touched  upon  in  the 
Second  Part. 


II 


I  II 


*  \ 


Whether  Incubi  and  Succubi  Commit  this 
Act  Visibly  on  the  part  of  the  Witch,  or 
on  the  part  of  Bystander * 

As  to  whether  they  commit  these 
abominations  together  visibly  or  in¬ 
visibly,  it  is  to  be  said  that,  in  all  the 
cases  of  which  we  have  had  knowledge, 
the  devil  has  always  operated  in  a  form 
visible  to  the  witch ;  for  there  is  no  need 
FdFTnm  to  approach  her  invisibly,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  pact  of  federation  with  him 
that  has  been  expressed.  But  with  re¬ 
gard  to  any  bystanders,  the  witches 
themselves  have  often  been  seen  lying 
on  their  ba^ks  in  the  fields  or  the  woods, 
naked  up  to  the  very  navel,  and  it  has 
been  apparent  from  the  disposition  of 
those  limbs  and  members  which  pertain 
to  the  venereal  act  and  orgasm,  as  also 
from  the  agitation  of  their  legs  and 
thighs,  that,  all  invisibly  to  the  by¬ 
standers,  they  have  been  copulating 
with  Incubus  devils;  yet  sometimes, 
howbeit  this  is  rare,  at  the  end  of  the 
act  a  very  black  vapour,  of  about  the 
stature  of  a  man,  rises  up  into  the  air 
from  the  witch.  And  the  reason  is  that 
that  Schemer  knows  that  he  can  in  this 
way  seduce  or  pervert  the  minds  of  girls 
or  other  men  who  are  standing  by. 
But  of  these  matters,  and  how  they  have 
been  performed  in  many  places,  in  the 
town  of  Ratisbon  and  on  the  estate 
of  the  nobles  of  Rappolstein,  and  in  cer¬ 
tain  other  countries,  we  will  treat  in  the 
Second  Part. 

It  is  certain  also  that  the  following 
has  happened.  Husbands  have  actually 
seen  Incubus  devils  s wiving  their  wives, 
although  they  have  thought  that  they 
were  not  devils  but  men.  And  when 
they  have  taken  up  a  weapon  and  tried 
to  run  them  through,  the  devil  has  sud¬ 
denly  disappeared,  making  himself  in¬ 
visible.  And  then  their  wives  have 
thrown  their  arms  about  them,  al¬ 
though  they  have  sometimes  been  hurt, 
and  railed  at  their  husbands,  mocking 
them,  and  asking  them  if  they  had 
eyes,  or  whether  they  were  possessed  of 
devils. 


That  Incubus  Devils  do  not  Infest  only  those 
Women  who  have  been  Begotten  by  their 
Filthy  Deeds  or  those  who  have  been 
Offered  to  them  by  Midwives,  but  All 
Indifferently  with  Greater  or  Less  Ve¬ 
nereal  Delectation. 

In  conclusion,  finally,  it  can  be  said 
that  these  Incubus  devils  will  not  only 
infest  those  women  who  have  been 
generated  by  means  of  such  abomina¬ 
tions,  or  those  who  have  been  offered  to 
them  by  midwives,  but  that  they  try 
with  all  their  might,  by  means  of 
witches  who  are  bawds  or  hot  whores, 
to  seduce  all  the  devout  and  chaste  f 
maidens  in  that  whole  district  or  town.  | 
For  this  is  well  known  by  the  constant 
experience  of  Magistrates ;  and  in  the 
town  of  Ratisbon,  when  certain 
witches  were  burned,  tEese  wretches 
^affirmed,  before  their  final  sentence, 
Tfiat  they  had  been  commanded  by 
their  Masters  to  use  every  endeavour 
to  effect  the  subversion  of  pious  maids  ) 
and  widows. 

If  it  be  asked :  Whether  the  venereal 
delectation  is  greater  or  less  with  In¬ 
cubus  devils  in  assumed  bodies  than  it 
is  in  like  circumstances  with  men  in  a 
true  physical  body,  we  may  say  this: 

It  seems  that,  although  the  pleasure 
should  naturally  be  greater  when  like 
disports  with  like,  yet  that  cunning 
Enemy  can  so  bring  together  the  active 
and  passive  elements,  not  indeed  natur¬ 
ally,  but  in  such  qualities  of  warmth 
and  temperament,  that  he  seems  to  ex¬ 
cite  no  less  degree  of  concupiscence. 
But  this  matter  will  be  discussed  more 
fully  later  with  reference  to  the  quali¬ 
ties  of  the  feminine  sex. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  V 

Witches  commonly  perform  their  Spells 
through  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church. 
And  how  they  Impair  the  Powers  of 
Generation,  and  how  they  may  Cause 
other  Ills  to  happen  to  God’s  Creatures  of 
all  kinds.  But  herein  we  except  the 
Question  of  the  Influence  of  the  Stars. 

BUT  now  there  are  several  things  to  1 
be  noted  concerning  their  methods 
of  bringing  injury  upon  other  creatures 
of  both  sexes,  and  upon  the  fruits  of  the 
earth :  first  with  regard  to  men,  then  l 
with  regard  to  beasts,  and  thirdly  with  \ 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  5 


MALEFICARUM 


XI5 


r  regard  to  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  And  as 
to  men,  first,  how  they  can  cast  an  ob¬ 
structive  spell  on  the  procreant  forces, 
and  even  on  the  venereal  act,  so  that  a 
woman  cannot  conceive,  or  a  man  can¬ 
not  perform  the  act.  Secondly,  how  that 
act  is  obstructed  sometimes  with  regard 
to  one  woman  but  not  another.  Third¬ 
ly,  how  they  take  away  the  virile  mem¬ 
ber  as  though  it  were  altogether  torn 
away  from  the  body.  Fourthly,  if  it  is 
possible  to  distinguish  whether  any  of 
the  above  injuries  have  been  caused  by 
a  devil  on  his  own  account,  or  if  it  has 
been  through  the  agency  of  a  witch. 
^Fifthly,  how  witches  change  men  and 
I  women  into  beasts  by  some  prestige  or 
glamour.  Sixthly,  how  witch  midwives 
in  various  ways  kill  that  which  has  been 
conceived  in  the  mother’s  womb;  and 
when  they  do  not  do  this,  offer  the 
(  children  to  devils.  And  lest  these  things 
should  seem  incredible,  they  have  been 
proved  in  the  First  Part  of  this  work  by 
questions  and  answers  to  arguments ;  to 
which,  if  necessary,  the  doubtful  reader 
may  turn  back  for  the  purpose  of  in¬ 
vestigating  the  truth. 

(For  the  present  our  object  is  only  to 
adduce  actual  facts  and  examples  which 
have  been  found  by  us,  or  have  been 
written  by  others  in  detestation  of  so 
great  a  crime,  to  substantiate  those  for¬ 
mer  arguments  in  case  they  should  be 
difficult  for  anyone  to  understand ;  and, 
by  those  things  that  are  related  in  this 
Second  Part,  to  bring  back  to  the 
Faith  and  away  from  their  error  those 
who  think  there  are  no  witches,  and 
that  no  witchcraft  can  be  done  in  the 
world. 

And  with  regard  to  the  first  class  of 
injuries  with  which  they  afflict  the 
human  race,  it  is  to  be  noted  that, 
apart  from  the  methods  by  which  they 
injure  other  creatures,  they  have  six 
ways  of  injuring  humanity.  And  one  is, 
to  induce  an  evil  love  in  a  man  for  a 
woman,  or  in  a  woman  for  a  man.  The 
second  is  to  plant  hatred  or  jealousy  in 
anyone.  The  third  is  to  bewitch  them 
so  that  a  man  cannot  perform  the  gen¬ 
ital  act  with  a  woman,  or  conversely  a 
woman  with  a  man;  or  by  various 
means  to  procure  an  abortion,  as  has 
been  said  before.  The  fourth  is  to  cause 
disease  in  any  of  the  human 


some 


HI 


organs.  The  fifth,  to  take  away  life. 
The  sixth,  to  deprive  them  01  reason. 

In  this  connexion  it  should  be  said 
that,  saving  the  influence  of  the  stars, 


the  devils  can  by  their  natural  power  in 
every  way  cause  real  defects  and  in¬ 
firmities,  and  this  by  their  natural 
spiritual  power,  which  is  superior  to  ? 
any  bodily  power.  For  no  one  in- 1 1 
firmity  is  quite  like  another,  and  this  is 
equally  true  of  natural  defects  in  which 
there  is  no  physical  infirmity.  There¬ 
fore  they  proceed  by  different  methods 
to  cause  each  different  infirmity  or 
defect.  And  of  these  we  shall  give  in¬ 
stances  in  the  body  of  this  work  as  the 
necessity  arises.  * 

But  first,  lest  the  reader’s  mind  should 
be  kept  in  any  doubt  as  to  why  they 
have  no  power  to  alter  the  influence  of 
the  stars,  we  shall  say  that  there  is  a 
threefold  reason.  First,  the  stars  are 
above  them  even  in  the  region  of 
punishment,  which  is  the  region  of  the 
lower  mists ;  and  this  by  reason  of  the 
duty  which  is  assigned  to  them.  See  the 
First  Part,  Question  II,  where  we  dealt 
with  Incubus  and  Succubus  devils. 

The  second  reason  is  that  the  stars  are 
governed  by  the  good  Angels.  See 
many  places  concerning  the  Powers 
which  move  the  stars,  and  especially 
S.  Thomas,  part  1,  quest.  90.  And  in 
this  matter  the  Philosophers  agree  with 
the  Theologians. 

Thirdly,  it  is  on  account  of  the  general  j 
order  and  common  good  of  the  Uni¬ 
verse,  which  would  suffer  general  detri¬ 
ment  if  evil  spirits  were  allowed  to  cause 
any  alteration  in  the  influence  of  the 
stars.  Wherefore  those  changes  which 
were  miraculously  caused  in  the  Old  or 
New  Testament  were  done  by  God 
through  the  good  Angels;  as,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  when  the  sun  stood  still  for 
Joshua,  or  when  it  went  backward  for 
Hezekiah,  or  when  it  was  supernatur- 
ally  darkened  at  the  Passion  of  Christ. 
But  in  all  other  matters,  with  God’s 
permission,  they  can  work  their  spells, 
either  the  devils  by  themselves,  or&  f 
devils  through  the  agency  of  witches ;  \ 
and,  in  fact,  it  is  evident  that  they  1 1 
do  so. 

Secondly,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  in  all 
their  methods  of  working  injury  they 
nearly  always  instruct  witches  to  make 
their  instruments  of  witchcraft  by 
means  of  the  Sacraments  or  sacra¬ 
mental  things  of  the  Church,  or  some 
holy  thing  consecrated  to  God :  as 
when  they  sometimes  place  a  waxen 
image  under  the  Altar-cloth,  or  draw  a 
thread  through  the  Holy  Chrism,  or 
use  some  other  consecrated  thing  in 


ii6 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  5 


such  a  way.  And  there  are  three  reasons 
for  this. 

For  a  similar  reason  they  are  wont  to 
practise  their  witchcraft  at  the  more 
sacred  times  of  the  year,  especially  at 
the  Advent  of  Our  Lord,  and  at  Christ¬ 
mas.  First,  that  by  such  means  they 
may  make  men  guilty  of  not  only  per¬ 
fidy,  but  also  sacrilege,  by  contaminat¬ 
ing  whatever  is  divine  in  them;  and 
that  so  they  may  the  more  deeply 
offend  God  their  Creator,  damn  their 
own  souls,  and  cause  many  more  to  rush 
into  sin. 

Secondly,  that  God,  being  so  heavily 
offended  by  men,  may  grant  the  devil 
greater  power  of  tormenting  men.  For 
so  says  S.  Gregory,  that  in  His  anger  He 
sometimes  grants  the  wicked  their 
prayers  and  petitions,  which  He  merci¬ 
fully  denies  to  others.  And  the  third 
reason  is  that,  by  the  seeming  appear¬ 
ance  of  good,  he  may  more  easily  de¬ 
ceive  certain  simple  men,  who  think 
that  they  have  performed  some  pious 
act  and  obtained  grace  from  God, 
whereas  they  have  only  sinned  the 
more  heavily. 

A  fourth  reason  also  can  be  added 
touching  the  more  sacred  seasons  and 
the  New  Year.  For,  according  to  S. 
Augustine,  there  are  other  mortal  sins 
besides  adultery  by  which  the  observ¬ 
ance  of  the  Festivals  may  be  infringed. 
Superstition,  moreover,  and  witchcraft 
arising  from  the  most  servile  operations 
of  the  devil  are  contrary  to  the  rever¬ 
ence  that  is  due  to-  God.  Therefore,  as 
has  been  said,  he  causes  a  man  to  fall 
more  deeply,  and  the  Creator  is  the 
more  offended. 

And  of  the  New  Year  we  may  say, 
according  to  S.  Isidore,  Etym.  VIII.  2, 
that  Janus?  from  whom  the  month  of 
January  is  named,  which  also  begins  on 
the  Day  of  Circumcision,  was  an  idol 
with  two  faces,  as  if  one  were  the  end  of 
the  old  year  and  the  other  the  beginning 
of  the  new,  and,  as  it  were,  the  protector 
and  auspicious  author  of  the  coming 
year.  And  in  honour  of  him,  or  rather  of 
the  devil  in  the  form  of  that  idol,  the 
Pagans  made  much  boisterous  revelry, 
and  were  very  merry  among  themselves, 
holding  various  dances  and  feasts.  And 
concerning  these  Blessed  Augustine 
makes  mention  in  many  places,  and 
gives  a  very  ample  description  of  them 
in  his  Twenty-sixth  Book. 

And  now  bad  Christians  imitate  these 
corruptions,  turning  them  to  lasci¬ 


viousness  when  they  run  about  at  the 
time  of  Carnival  *  with  masks  and 
jests  and  other  superstitions.  Similarly 
witches  use  these  revelries  of  the  devil 
for  their  own  advantage,  and  work  their 
spells  about  the  time  of  the  New  Year 
in  respect  of  the  Divine  Offices  and 
Worship ;  as  on  S.  Andrew’s  Day  and 
at  Christmas. 

And  now,  as  to  how  they  work  their 
witchcraft,  first  by  means  of  the  Sacra¬ 
ments,  and  then  by  means  of  sacra¬ 
mental  objects,  we  will  refer  to  a  few 
known  facts,  discovered  by  us  in  the 
Inquisition. 

In  a  town  which  it  is  better  not  to 
name,  for  the  sake  of  charity  and  ex¬ 
pediency,  when  a  certain  witch  received 
the  Body  of  Our  Lord,  she  suddenly 
lowered  her  head,  as  is  the  detestable 
habit  of  women,  placed  her  garment 
near  her  mouth,  and  taking  the  Body  of 
the  Lord  out  of  her  mouth,  wrapped  it 
in  a  handkerchief;  and  afterwards,  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  devil,  placed  it  in 
a  pot  in  which  there  was  a  toad,  and  hid 
it  in  the  ground  near  her  house  by  the 
storehouse,  together  with  several  other 
things*  by  means  of  which  she  had  to 
work  her  witchcraft.f  But  with  the  help 


*  “Carnival”  These  Pagan  practices  are 
sternly  reprobated  in  the  “ Liber  Poenitentialis” 
of  S.  Theodore ,  seventh  Archbishop  of  Canter¬ 
bury.  In  Book  XXXVII  is  written:  “If  anyone 
at  the  Kalends  of  January  goeth  about  as  a  stag 
or  a  oull-calj ,  that  is,  making  himself  into  a 
wild  animal,  and  dressing  in  the  skins  of  a 
herd  animal,  and  putting  on  the  heads  of  beasts; 
those  who  in  such  wise  transform  themselves  into 
the  appearance  of  a  wild  animal,  let  them  do 
penance  for  three  years,  because  this  is  devilish.” 
See  my  “ Geography  of  Witchcraft ,”  Chap.  II, 
pp.  65-73.  The  Council  of  Auxerre  in  578  {or  , 
58 f)  forbade  anyone  “to  masquerade  as  a  bull- 
calf  or  a  stag  on  the  first  of  January  or  to  dis¬ 
tribute  devilish  charms.” 


i 


I 


f  “Witchcraft.”  It  is  not  unusual  for 
Satanists  to  go  to  Holy  Communion  in  various 
churches  of  a  town,  and  instead  of  consuming  the 
Host  they  spit  God's  Body  from  their  mouths 
into  a  handkerchief  or  cloth  and  take  it  away  to 
abuse  in  their  horrid  worship.  In  the  notorious 
case  of  the  Lancashire  witches,  at  the  first ■  trial— \ 
1612,  James  Device  Tonfessed  u that  vpon 
SKettfe  Thursday  was  two  yeares,  his  Grand- 
Mother  Elizabeth  Southernes  alias  Demdike,  did 
bid  him  this  Examinate  goe  to  the  Church  to 
receive  the  Communion  ( the  next  day  after  being 
Good  Friday) ,  and  then  not  to  eate  the  Bread  the 
Minister  gave  him,  but  to  bring  it  and  deliver  it 
to  such  a  thing  as  should  meet  him  in  his  way 
homewards;  Notwithstanding  her  perswasions 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  6 


MALEFICARUM 


of  God’s  mercy  this  great  crime  was  de¬ 
tected  and  brought  to  light.  For  on  the 
following  day  a  workman  was  going  on 
his  business  near  that  house,  and  heard 
a  sound  like  a  child  crying ;  and  when 
he  had  come  near  to  the  stone  under 
which  the  pot  had  been  hidden,  he 
heard  it  much  more  clearly,  and  think¬ 
ing  that  some  child  had  been  buried 
there  by  the  woman,  went  to  the  Mayor 
or  chief  magistrate,  and  told  him  what 
had  been  done,  as  he  thought,  by  the 
infanticide.  And  the  Mayor  quickly 
sent  his  servants  and  found  it  to  be  as 
he  had  said.  But  they  were  unwilling  to 
exhume  the  child,  thinking  it  wiser  to 
place  a  watch  and  wait  to  see  if  any 
woman  came  near  the  place;  for  they 
did  not  know  that  it  was  the  Lord’s 
Body  that  was  hidden  there.  And  so  it 
happened  that  the  same  witch  came  to 
the  place,  and  secretly  hid  the  pot  under 
her  garment  before  their  eyes.  And 
when  she  was  taken  and  questioned,  she 
discovered  her  crime,  saying  that  the 
Lord’s  Body  had  been  hidden  in  the 
pot  with  a  toad,  so  that  by  means  of 
their  dust  she  might  be  able  to  cause 
injuries  at  her  will  to  men  and  other 
creatures. 

It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  when 
witches  communicate  they  observe  this 
custom,  that,  when  they  can  do  so  with¬ 
out  being  noticed,  they  receive  the 
Lord’s  Body  under  their  tongue  instead 
of  on  the  top.  And  as  far  as  can  be 
seen,  the  reason  is  that  they  never  wish 
to  receive  any  remedy  that  might 
counteract  their  abjuration  of  the 

this  Examinate  did  eate  the  Bread:  and  so  in  his 
comming  homeward  some  fortie  roodes  off  the 
said  Church ,  there  met  him  a  thing  in  the  shape 
of  a  Hare ^  who  spoke  onto  this  Examinate ,  and 
askeTWnirwhether  he  had  brought  the  Bread” 

The  toad  constantly  appears  as  a  familiar. 
In  igjjg  at  Windsor  “ one  Mother  Dutton 
dwellyng  in  Cleworthe  Parishe  keepeth  a  Spirite 
or  Feende  in,  the  likenesse  of  a  Toade ,  and 
fedeth  the  same  Feende  liyng  in  a  border  of  greene 
Hearbes,  within  her  garden ,  with  blood  whiche 
she  causeth  to  issue  from  her  owne  flancke .” 
Ursley  Kemp ,  a  S.  Osyth  witch  (1582),  had  a 
familiar ,  Pygine ,  “ black  like  a  Toad.”  Ales 
Hunt  of  the  same  coven  nourished  two  familiars, 
uthe  which  sfcekept  in  cTlittle  lowe  earthern  pot.” 
Margerie  Sammon,  another  S.  Osyth' s  witch , 
hath  also  two  spirites  like  Toades ,  the  one 
called  ‘ Tom'  and  the  other  ‘ Robbyn.'  ”  When 
Ursley  Kemp  peeped  through  Mother  Hunt's 
window  she  “ espied  a  spirite  to  looke  out  of  a 
porcharde  from  under  a  clothe ,  the  nose  thereof 
being  browne  like  onto  a  Ferret.” 


117 

Faith,  either  by  Confession  or  by  re¬ 
ceiving  the  Sacrament  of  the  Eucharist ; 
and  secondly,  because  in  this  way  it  is 
easier  for  them  to  take  the  Lord’s  Body 
out  of  their  mouths  so  that  they  can 
apply  it,  as  has  been  said,  to  their  own 
uses,  to  the  greater  offence  of  the 
Creator. 

For  this  reason  all  rectors  of  the 
Church  and  those  who  communicate 
the  people  are  enjoined  to  take  the  ut¬ 
most  care  when  they  communicate 
women  that  the  mouth  shall  be  well 
open  and  the  tongue  thrust  well  out, 
and  their  garments  be  kept  quite  clear. 
And  the  more  care  is  taken  in  this 
respect,  the  more  witches  become 
known  by  this  means. 

Numberless  other  superstitions  they 
practise  by  means  of  sacramental  ob¬ 
jects.  Sometimes  they  place  a  waxen 
image  or  some  aromatic  substance 
under  the  altar-cloth,*  as  we  said  be¬ 
fore,  and  then  hide  it  under  the  thres¬ 
hold  of  a  house,  so  that  the  person  for 
whom  it  is  placed  there  may  be  be¬ 
witched  on  crossing  over  it.  Countless 
instances  could  be  brought  forward,  but 
these  minor  sorts  of  spells  are  proved  by 
the  greater. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  VI 

How  Witches  Impede  and  Prevent  the 
Power  of  Procreation. 

ONCERNING  the  method  by 
which  they  obstruct  the  procreant 
function  both  in  men  and  animals,  and 
in  both  sexes,  the  reader  may  consult 
that  which  has  been  written  already 
on  the  question,  Whether  devils  can 
through  witches  turn  the  minds  of  men 
to  love  or  hatred.  There,  after  the 
solutions  of  the  arguments,  a  specific 
declaration  is  made  relating  to  the 
method  by  which,  with  God’s  permis¬ 
sion,  they  can  obstruct  the  procreant 
function. 

But  it  must  be  noted  that  such  ob¬ 
struction  is  caused  both  intrinsically  and 
extrinsically.  Intrinsically  they  cause  it 
in  two  ways.  First,  when  they  directly 
prevent  the  erection  of  the  member 
which  is  accommodated  to  fructifica¬ 
tion.  And  this  need  not  seem  impos¬ 
sible,  when  it  is  considered  that  they  are 


*  “  Altar-Cloth .”  These  practices  still  survive. 


ii8 


MALLEUS 


able  to  vitiate  the  natural  use  of  any 
member.  Secondly,  when  they  prevent 
the  flow  of  the  vital  essences  to  the  mem¬ 
bers  in  which  resides  the  motive  force, 
closing  up  the  seminal  ducts  so  that  it 
does  not  reach  the  generative  vessels,  or 
so  that  it  cannot  be  ejaculated,  or  is 
fruitlessly  spilled. 

Extrinsically  they  cause  it  at  times  by 
means  of  images,  or  by  the  eating  of 
herbs ;  sometimes  by  other  external 
means,  such  as  cocks’  testicles.  But  it 
must  not  be  thought  that  it  is ‘by  the 
virtue  of  these  things  that  a  man  is 
made  impotent,  but  by  the  occult 
power  of  devils’  illusions  witches  by  this 
means  procure  such  impotence,  namely, 
that  they  cause  a  man  to  be  unable  to 
copulate,  or  a  woman  to  conceive. 

And  the  reason  for  this  is  that  God 
allows  them  more  power  over  this  act, 
by  which  the  first  sm  was  disseminated, 
than  over  other  human  actions.  Simi- 
.  larly  they  have  more  power  over  ser- 
j  pents,  which  are  the  most  subject  to  the 
[  influence  of  incantations,  than  over 
other  animals.  Wherefore  it  has  often 
been  found  by  us  and  other  Inquisitors 
that  they  have  caused  this  obstruction 
by  means  of  serpents  or  some  such 
things. 

For  a  certain  wizard  who  had  been 
arrested  confessed  that  for  many  years 
he  had  by  witchcraft  brought  sterility 
upon  all  the  men  and  animals  which  in¬ 
habited  a  certain  house.  Moreover, 
Nider  tells  of  a  wizard  named  Stadlin  * 
who  was  taken  in  the  diocese  of  Lau¬ 
sanne,  and  confessed  that  in  a  certain 
house  where  a  man  and  his  wife  were 
living,  he  had  by  his  witchcraft  suc¬ 
cessively  killed  in  the  woman’s  womb 
seven  children,  so  that  for  many  years 
the  woman  always  miscarried.  And 
that,  in  the  same  way,  he  had  caused 
that  all  the  pregnant  cattle  and  animals 
of  the  house  were  during  those  years 
unable  to  give  birth  to  any  live  issue. 
And  when  he  was  questioned  as  to  how 
he  had  done  this,  and  what  manner  of 
charge  should  be  preferred  against  him, 
he  discovered  his  crime,  saying :  I  put  a 
serpent  under  the  threshold  of  the  outer 
door  of  the  house;  and  if  this  is  re¬ 
moved,  fecundity  will  be  restored  to  the 
inhabitants.  And  it  was  as  he  said ;  for 
though  the  serpent  was  not  found,  hav¬ 
ing  been  reduced  to  dust,  the  whole 
piece  of  ground  was  removed,  and  in  the 


*  “Stadlin”  “ F 'or micarius ,”  c.  III. 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  7 


same  year  fecundity  was  restored  to  the 
wife  and  to  all  the  animals. 

Another  instance  occurred  hardly 
four  years  ago  in  Reichshofen.  There 
was  a  most  notorious  witch,  who  could 
at  all  times  and  by  a  mere  touch  be¬ 
witch  women  and  cause  an  abortion. 
Now  the  wife  of  a  certain  nobleman  in 
that  place  had  become  pregnant  and 
had  engaged  a  midwife  to  take  care  of 
her,  and  had  been  warned  by  the  mid¬ 
wife  not  to  go  out  of  the  castle,  and 
above  all  to  be  careful  not  to  hold  any 
speech  or  conversation  with  that  witch. 
After  some  weeks,  unmindful  of  that 
warning,  she  went  out  of  the  castle  to 
visit  some  women  who  were  met  to¬ 
gether  on  some  festive  occasion;  and 
when  she  had  sat  down  for  a  little,  the 
witch  came,  and,  as  if  for  the  purpose  of 
saluting  her,  placed  both  her  hands  on 
her  stomach ;  and  suddenly  she  felt  the 
child  moving  in  pain.  Frightened  by 
this,  she  returned  home  and  told  the 
midwife  what  had  happened.  Then  the 
midwife  exclaimed:  “Alas!  you  have 
already  lost  your  child.”  And  so  it 
proved  when  her  time  came ;  for  she 
gave  birth,  not  to  an  entire  abortion, 
but  little  by  little  to  separate  fragments 
of  its  head  and  feet  and  hands.  And  this 
great  affliction  was  permitted  by  God 
to  punish  her  husband,  whose  duty  it 
was  to  bring  witches  to  justice  and 
avenge  their  injuries  to  the  Creator. 

And  there  was  in  the  town  of  Mers- 
burg  in  the  diocese  of  Constance  a  cer¬ 
tain  young  man  who  was  bewitched  in 
such  a  way  that  he  could  never  perform 
the  carnal  act  with  any  woman  except 
one.  And  many  have  heard  him  tell 
that  he  had  often  wished  to  refuse  that 
woman,  and  take  flight  to  other  lands ; 
but  that  hitherto  he  had  been  com¬ 
pelled  to  rise  up  in  the  night  and  to 
come  very  quickly  back,  sometimes  over 
land,  and  sometimes  through  the  air  as 
if  he  were  flying. 


/ 


1 


☆ 

CHAPTER  VII 

How,  as  it  were,  they  Deprive  Man  of  his 
Virile  Member. 

WE  have  already  shown  that  they 
can  take  away  the  male  organ,  not 
indeed  by  actually  despoiling  the  human 
body  of  it,  but  by  concealing  it  with 
some  glamour,  in  the  manner  which  we 


MALEFICARUM 


119 


Part  II.  Qn  1.  Ch.  7 

have  already  declared.  And  of  this  we 
shall  instance  a  few  examples. 

In  the  town  of  Ratisbon  a  certain 
young  man  who  had  an  intrigue  with  a 
girl,  wishing  to  leave  her,  lost  his  mem¬ 
ber;  that  is  to  say,  some  glamour  was 
cast  over  it  so  that  he  could  see  or  touch 
nothing  but  his  smooth  body.  In  his 
worry  over  this  he  went  to  a  tavern  to 
drink  wine;  and  after  he  had  sat  there 
for  a  while  he  got  into  conversation  with 
another  woman  who  was  there,  and  told 
her  the  cause  of  his  sadness,  explaining 
everything,  and  demonstrating  in  his 
body  that  it  was  so.  The  woman  was 
astute,  and  asked  whether  he  suspected 
anyone;  and  when  he  named  such  a 
one,  unfolding  the  whole  matter,  she 
said :  “If  persuasion  is  not  enough,  you 
must  use  some  violence,  to  induce  her  to 
restore  to  you  your  health.”  So  in  the 
evening  the  young  man  watched  the 
way  by  which  the  witch  was  in  the 
habit  of  going,  and  finding  her,  prayed 
her  to  restore  to  him  the  health  of  his 
body.  And  when  she  maintained  that 
she  was  innocent  and  knew  nothing 
about  it,  he  fell  upon  her,  and  winding 
a  towel  tightly  round  her  neck,  choked 
her,  saying :  “Unless  you  give  me  back 
my  health,  you  shall  die  at  my  hands.” 
Then  she,  being  unable  to  cry  out,  and 
with  her  face  already  swelling  and 
growing  black,  said :  “Let  me  go,  and  I 
will  heal  you.”  The  young  man  then 
relaxed  the  pressure  of  the  towel,  and 
the  witch  touched  him  with  her  hand 
between  the  thighs,  saying:  “Now  you 
have  what  you  desire.”  And  the  young 
man,  as  he  afterwards  said,  plainly  felt, 
before  he  had  verified  it  by  looking  or 
touching,  that  his  member  had  been 
restored  to  him  by  the  mere  touch  of 
the  witch. 

A  similar  experience  is  narrated  by  a 
certain  venerable  Father  from  the  Do¬ 
minican  House  of  Spires,  well  known  in 
the  Order  for  the  honesty  of  his  life  and 
for  his  learning.  “One  day,”  he  says, 
“while  I  was  hearing  confessions,  a  young 
man  came  to  me  and,  in  the  course  of 
his  confession,  woefully  said  that  he  had 
lost  his  member.  Being  astonished  at 
this,  and  not  being  willing  to  give  it 
easy  credence,  since  in  the  opinion  of 
the  wise  it  is  a  mark  of  light-heartedness 
to  believe  too  easily,  I  obtained  proof 
of  it  when  I  saw  nothing  on  the  young 
man’s  removing  his  clothes  and  showing 
the  place.  Then,  using  the  wisest  coun¬ 
sel  I  could,  I  asked  whether  he  sus- 


ected  anyone  of  having  so  bewitched 
im.  And  the  young  man  said  that  he 
did  suspect  someone,  but  that  she  was 
absent  and  living  in  Worms.  Then  I 
said :  T  advise  you  to  go  to  her  as  soon 
as  possible  and  try  your  utmost  to  soften 
her  with  gentle  words  and  promises’; 
and  he  did  so.  For  he  came  back  after 
a  few  days  and  thanked  me,  saying 
that  he  was  whole  and  had  recovered 
everything.  And  I  believed  his  words, 
but  again  proved  them  by  the  evidence 
of  my  eyes.” 

But  there  are  some  points  to  be  noted 
for  the  clearer  understanding  of  what 
has  already  been  written  concerning 
this  matter.  First,  it  must  in  no  way  be 
believed  that  such  members  are  really 
torn  right  away  from  the  body,  but 
that  they  are  hidden  by  the  devil 
through  some  prestidigitatory  art  so 
that  they  can  be  neither  seen  nor  felt. 
And  this  is  proved  by  the  authorities 
and  by  argument ;  although  it  has  been 
treated  of  before,  where  Alexander  of 
Hales  says  that  a  Prestige,  properly 
understood,  is  an  illusion  of  the  devil, 
which  is  not  caused  by  any  material 
change,  but  exists  only  in  the  percep¬ 
tions  of  him  who  is  deluded,  either  in 
his  interior  or  exterior  senses. 

With  reference  to  these  words  it  is  to 
be  noted  that,  in  the  case  we  are  con¬ 
sidering,  two  of  the  exterior  senses, 
namely,  those  of  sight  and  touch,  are 
deluded,  and  not  the  interior  senses, 
namely,  common-sense,  fancy,  imagin¬ 
ation,  thought,  and  memory.  (But  S. 
Thomas  says  they  are  only  four,  as  has 
been  told  before,  reckoning  fancy  and 
imagination  as  one;  and  with  some 
reason,  for  there  is  little  difference  be¬ 
tween  imagining  and  fancying.  See  S. 
Thomas,  I,  79.)  And  these  senses,  and 
not  only  the  exterior  senses,  are  af¬ 
fected  when  it  is  not  a  case  of  hiding 
something,  but  of  causing  something  to 
appear  to  a  man  either  when  he  is 
awake  or  asleep. 

As  when  a  man  who  is  awake  sees 
things  otherwise  than  as  they  are ;  such 
as  seeing  someone  devour  a  horse  with 
its  rider,  or  thinking  he  sees  a  man 
transformed  into  a  beast,  or  thinking 
that  he  is  himself  a  beast  and  must  asso¬ 
ciate  with  beasts.  For  then  the  exterior 
senses  are  deluded  and  are  employed  by 
the  interior  senses.  For  by  the  power  of 
devils,  with  God’s  permission,  mental 
images  long  retained  in  the  treasury  of 
such  images,  which  is  the  memory,  are 


120 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  7 


drawn  out,  not  from  the  intellectual 
understanding  in  which  such  images  are 
stored,  but  from  the  memory,  which  is 
the  repository  of  mental  images,  and  is 
situated  at  the  back  of  the  head,  and 
are  presented  to  the  imaginative  faculty. 
And  so  strongly  are  they  impressed  on 
that  faculty  that  a  man  has  an  inevit¬ 
able  impulse  to  imagine  a  horse  or  a 
beast,  when  the  devil  draws  from  the 
memory  an  image  of  a  horse  or  a  beast ; 
and  so  he  is  compelled  to  think  that  he 
sees  with  his  external  eyes  such  a  beast 
when  there  is  actually  no  such  beast  to 
see;  but  it  seems  to  be  so  by  reason  of 
the  impulsive  force  of  the  devil  working 
by  means  of  those  images. 

And  it  need  not  seem  wonderful  that 
devils  can  do  this,  when  even  a  natural 
defect  is  able  to  effect  the  same  result, 
as  is  shown  in  the  case  of  frantic  and 
melancholy  men,  and  in  maniacs  and 
some  drunkards,  who  are  unable  to  dis¬ 
cern  truly.  For  frantic  men  think  they 
see  marvellous  things,  such  as  beasts 
and  other  horrors,  when  in  actual  fact 
they  see  nothing.  See  above,  in  the 
question,  Whether  witches  can  turn  the 
minds  of  men  to  love  and  hatred ;  where 
many  things  are  noted. 

And,  finally,  the  reason  is  self- 
evident.  For  since  the  devil  has  power 
over  inferior  things,  except  only  the 
soul,  therefore  he  is  able  to  effect  cer¬ 
tain  changes  in  those  things,  when  God 
allows,  so  that  things  appear  to  be 
otherwise  than  they  are.  And  this  he 
does,  as  I  have  said,  either  by  confusing 
and  deluding  the  organ  of  sight  so  that 
a  clear  thing  appears  cloudy:  just  as 
after  weeping,  owing  to  the  collected 
humours,  the  light  appears  different 
from  what  it  was  before.  Or  by  operat¬ 
ing  on  the  imaginative  faculty  by  a 
transmutation  of  mental  images,  as  has 
been  said.  Or  by  some  agitation  of 
various  humours,  so  that  matters  which 
are  earthy  and  dry  seem  to  be  fire  or 
water :  as  some  people  make  everyone 
in  the  house  strip  themselves  naked 
under  the  impression  that  they  are 
swimming  in  water. 

It  may  be  asked  further  with  reference 
to  the  above  method  of  devils,  whether 
this  sort  of  illusions  can  happen  in¬ 
differently  to  the  good  and  to  the 
wicked :  just  as  other  bodily  infirmities 
can,  as  will  be  shown  later,  be  brought 
by  witches  even  upon  those  who  are  in 
a  state  of  grace.  To  this  question,  fol¬ 
lowing  the  words  of  Cassian  in  his 


Second  Collation  of  the  Abbot  Sirenus,  we 
must  answer  that  they  cannot.  And 
from  this  it  follows  that  all  who  are  de¬ 
luded  in  this  way  are  presumed  to  be 
in  deadly  sin.  For  he  says,  as  is  clear 
from  the  words  of  S.  Antony :  The  devil 
can  in  no  way  enter  the  mind  or  body 
of  any  man,  nor  has  the  power  to  pene¬ 
trate  into  the  thoughts  of  anybody,  , 
unless  such  a  person  has  first  become 
destitute  of  all  holy  thoughts,  and  is 
quite  bereft  and  denuded  of  spiritual 
contemplation. 

This  agrees  with  Boethius  where  he 
says  in  the  Consolation  of  Philosophy:  * 
We  had  given  you  such  arms  that,  if  you 
had  not  thrown  them  away,  you  would 
have  been  preserved  from  infirmity. 

Also  Cassian  tells  in  the  same  place  of 
two  Pagan  witches,  each  in  his  own  way 
malicious,  who  by  their  witchcraft  sent 
a  succession  of  devils  into  the  cell  of  S. 
Antony  for  the  purpose  of  driving  him 
from  there  by  their  temptations ;  being 
infected  with  hatred  for  the  holy  man 
because  a  great  number  of  people 
visited  him  every  day.  And  though 
these  devils  assailed  him  with  the  keen¬ 
est  of  spurs  to  his  thoughts,  yet  he  drove 
them  away  by  crossing  himself  on  the 
forehead  and  breast,  and  by  prostrating 
himself  in  earnest  prayer. 

Therefore  we  may  say  that  all  who 
are  so  deluded  by  devils,  not  reckoning 
any  other  bodily  infirmities,  are  lacking 
in  the  gift  of  divine  grace.  And  so  it  is 
said  in  Tobias  vi :  The  devil  has  power 
against  those  who  are  subject  to  their 
lusts. 

This  is  also  substantiated  by  what  we 
told  in  the  First  Part  in  the  question, 
Whether  witches  can  change  men  into 
the  shapes  of  beasts.  For  we  told  of  a 
girl  who  was  turned  into  a  filly,  as  she 
herself  and,  except  S.  Macharius,  all 
who  looked  at  her  were  persuaded.  But 
the  devil  could  not  deceive  the  senses  of 
the  holy  man ;  and  when  she  was 
brought  to  him  to  be  healed,  he  saw  a 
true  woman  and  not  a  horse,  while  on 
the  other  hand  everyone  else  exclaimed 
that  she  seemed  to  be  a  horse.  And  the 
Saint,  by  his  prayers,  freed  her  and  the 
others  from  that  illusion,  saying  that  this 
had  happened  to  her  because  she  had 
not  attended  sufficiently  to  holy  things, 


*  “Boethius.”  “De  Consolatione  Philoso¬ 
phiae .”  Liber  /,  Prosa  ii.  “ Atqui  talia  con¬ 
tuleramus  arma ,  quae  nisi  prius  abiecisses , 
inuicta  te  firmitate  tuerentur.” 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  7 


MALEFICARUM 


121 


nor  used  as  she  should  Holy  Confession 
and  the  Eucharist.  And  for  this  reason, 
because  in  her  honesty  she  would  not 
consent  to  the  shameful  proposal  of  a 
young  man,  he  had  caused  a  Jew  who 
was  a  witch  to  bewitch  the  girl  so  that, 
by  the  power  of  the  devil,  he  turned  her 
into  a  filly. 

We  may  summarize  our  conclusions 
as  follows : — Devils  can,  for  their  profit 
and  probation,  injure  the  good  in  their 
fortunes,  that  is,  in  such  exterior  things 
as  riches,  fame,  and  bodily  health.  This 
is  clear  from  the  case  of  the  Blessed  Job, 
who  was  afflicted  by  the  devil  in  such 
matters.  But  such  injuries  are  not  of 
their  own  causing,  so  that  they  cannot 
be  led  or  driven  into  any  sin,  although 
they  can  be  tempted  both  inwardly  and 
outwardly  in  the  flesh.  But  the  devils 
cannot  afflict  the  good  with  this  sort  of 
illusions,  either  actively  or  passively. 

Not  actively,  by  deluding  their  senses 
as  they  do  those  of  others  who  are  not  in 
a  state  of  grace.  And  not  passively,  by 
taking  away  their  male  organs  by  some 
glamour.  For  in  these  two  respects  they 
could  never  injure  Job,  especially  the 
passive  injury  with  regard  to  the 
venereal  act;  for  he  was  of  such  con¬ 
tinence  that  he  was  able  to  say :  I  have 
vowed  a  vow  with  my  eyes  that  I  shall 
never  think  about  a  virgin,  and  still  less 
about  another  man’s  wife.  Neverthe¬ 
less  the  devil  knows  that  he  has  great 
power  over  sinners  (see  S.  Luke  xi: 
When  a  strong  man  armed  keepeth  his 
palace,  his  goods  are  in  peace). 

But  it  may  be  asked,  as  to  illusions  in 
respect  of  the  male  organ,  whether, 
granted  that  the  devil  cannot  impose 
this  illusion  on  those  in  a  state  of  grace 
in  a  passive  way,  he  cannot  still  do  so 
in  an  active  sense :  the  argument  being 
that  the  man  in  a  state  of  grace  is  de¬ 
luded  because  he  ought  to  see  the  mem¬ 
ber  in  its  right  place,  when  he  who 
thinks  it  has  been  taken  away  from  him, 
as  well  as  other  bystanders,  does  not  see 
it  in  its  place ;  but  if  this  is  conceded,  it 
seems  to  be  contrary  to  what  has  been 
said.  It  can  be  said  that  there  is  not  so 
much  force  in  the  active  as  in  the 
passive  loss ;  meaning  by  active  loss,  not 
his  who  bears  the  loss,  but  his  who  sees 
the  loss  from  without,  as  is  self-evident. 
Therefore,  although  a  man  in  a  state  of 
grace  can  see  the  loss  of  another,  and  to 
that  extent  the  devil  can  delude  his 
senses;  yet  he  cannot  passively  suffer 
such  loss  in  his  own  body,  as,  for  ex¬ 


ample,  to  be  deprived  of  his  member, 
since  he  is  not  subject  to  lust.  In  the 
same  way  the  converse  is  true,  as  the 
Angel  said  to  Tobias:  Those  who  are 
given  to  lust,  the  devil  has  power  over 
them. 

And  what,  then,  is  to  be  thought  of 
those  witches  who  in  this  way  some¬ 
times  collect  male  organs  in  great  num¬ 
bers,  as  many  as  twenty  or  thirty  mem¬ 
bers  together,  and  put  them  in  a  bird’s 
nest,  or  shut  them  up  in  a  box,  where 
they  move  themselves  like  living  mem¬ 
bers,  and  eat  oats  and  corn,  as  has  been 
seen  by  many  and.  is  a  matter  of  com¬ 
mon  report?  It  is  to  be  said  that  it  is 
all  done  by  devil’s  work  and  illusion, 
for  the  senses  of  those  who  see  them  are 
deluded  in  the  way  we  have  said.  For  a 
certain  man  tells  that,  when  he  had  lost 
his  member,  he  approached  a  known 
witch  to  ask  her  to  restore  it  to  him. 

She  told  the  afflicted  man  to  climb  a 
certain  tree,  and  that  he  might  take 
which  he  liked  out  of  a  nest  in  which 
there  were  several  members.  And  when 
he  tried  to  take  a  big  one,  the  witch  said  : 

You  must  not  take  that  one;  adding,  1  /7  f 
because  it  belonged  to  a  parish  priest.  t 

All  these  things  are  caused  by  devils 
through  an  illusion  or  glamour,  in  the 
manner  we  have  said,  by  confusing  the 
organ  of  vision  by  transmuting  the 
mental  images  in  the  imaginative 
faculty.  And  it  must  not  be  said  that 
these  members  which  are  shown  are 
devils  in  assumed  members,  just  as  they 
sometimes  appear  to  witches  and  men 
in  assumed  aerial  bodies,  and  converse 
with  them.  And  the  reason  is  that  they 
effect  this  thing  by  an  easier  method, 
namely,  by  drawing  out  an  inner 
mental  image  from  the  repository  of  the 
memory,  and  impressing  it  on  the 
imagination. 

And  if  anyone  wishes  to  say  that  they 
could  go  to  work  in  a  similar  way,  when 
they  are  said  to  converse  with  witches 
and  other  men  in  assumed  bodies ;  that 
is,  that  they  could  cause  such  appari¬ 
tions  by  changing  the  mental  images  in 
the  imaginative  faculty,  so  that  when 
men  thought  the  devils  were  present 
in  assumed  bodies,  they  were  really 
nothing  but  an  illusion  caused  by  such 
a  change  of  the  mental  images  in  the 
inner  perceptions. 

It  is  to  be  said  that,  if  the  devil  had 
no  other  purpose  than  merely  to  show 
himself  in  human  form,  then  there 
would  be  no  need  for  him  to  appear  in 


K 


122 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  8 


an  assumed  body,  since  he  could  effect 
his  purpose  well  enough  by  the  afore¬ 
said  illusion.  But  this  is  not  so;  for  he 
has  another  purpose,  namely,  to  speak 
and  eat  with  them,  and  to  commit  other 
abominations.  Therefore  it  is  necessary 
that  he  should  himself  be  present,  plac¬ 
ing  himself  actually  in  sight  in  an 
assumed  body.  For,  as  S.  Thomas  says, 
Where  the  Angel’s  power  is,  there  he 
operates. 

And  it  may  be  asked,  if  the  devil  by 
himself  and  without  any  witch  takes 
away  anyone’s  virile  member,  whether 
there  is  any  difference  between  one  sort 
of  deprivation  and  the  other.  In  addi¬ 
tion  to  what  has  been  said  in  the  First 
Part  of  this  work  on  the  question, 
Whether  witches  can  take  away  the 
male  organ,  it  can  be  said  that,  when 
the  devil  by  himself  takes  away  a  mem¬ 
ber,  he  does  actually  take  it  away,  and 
it  is  actually  restored  when  it  has  to  be 
restored.  Secondly,  as  it  is  not  taken 
away  without  injury,  so  it  is  not  without 
pain.  Thirdly,  that  he  never  does  this 
unless  compelled  by  a  good  Angel,  for 
by  so  doing  he  cuts  off  a  great  source  of 
profit  to  him ;  for  he  knows  that  he  can 
work  more  witchcraft  on  that  act  than 
on  other  human  acts.  For  God  permits 
him  to  do  more  injury  to  that  than  to 
other  human  acts,  as  has  been  said. 
But  none  of  the  above  points  apply 
when  he  works  through  the  agency  of  a 
witch,  with  God’s  permission. 

And  if  it  is  asked  whether  the  devil  is 
more  apt  to  injure  men  and  creatures  by 
himself  than  through  a  witch,  it  can 
be  said  that  there  is  no  comparison 
between  the  two  cases.  For  he  is  in¬ 
finitely  more  apt  to  do  harm  through 
the  agency  of  witches.  First,  because  he 
thus  gives  greater  offence  to  God,  by 
usurping  to  himself  a  creature  dedi¬ 
cated  to  Him.  Secondly,  because  when 
God  is  the  more  offended,  He  allows 
him  the  more  power  of  injuring  men. 
And  thirdly,  for  his  own  gain,  which  he 
places  in  the  perdition  of  souls. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Of  the  Manner  whereby  they  Change  Men 
into  the  Shapes  of  Beasts . 

j  T>UT  that  witches,  by  the  power  of 
JO  devils,  change  men  into  the  shapes 
of  beasts  (for  this  is  their  chief  manner  of 


transmutation),  although  it  has  been 
sufficiently  proved  in  the  First  Part 
of  the  work,  Question  io,  Whether! 
witches  can  do  such  things:  neverthe¬ 
less,  since  that  question  with  its  argu¬ 
ments  and  solutions  may  be  rather 
obscure  to  some;  especially  since  no 
actual  examples  are  adduced  to  prove 
them,  and  even  the  method  by 
which  they  so  transform  themselves  is 
not  explained;  therefore  we  add  the 
present  exposition  by  the  resolution  of 
several  doubts. 

And  first,  that  Canon  (26,  Q.  5, 
Episcopi)  is  not  to  be  understood  in 
this  matter  in  the  way  in  which  even 
many  learned  men  (but  would  that 
their  learning  were  good !)  are  de¬ 
ceived;  who  do  not  fear  to  affirm 
publicly  in  their  sermons  that  such 
prestidigitatory  transmutations  are  in 
no  way  possible  even  by  the  power  of 
devils.  And  we  have  often  said  that 
this  doctrine  is  greatly  to  the  detriment 
of  the  Faith,  and  strengthens  the 
witches,  who  rejoice  very  much  in  such 
sermons. 

But  such  preachers,  as  has  been  noted, 
touch  only  the  outer  surface,  and  fail 
to  reach  the  inner  meaning  of  the 
words  of  the  Canon.  For  when  it  says : 
Whoever  believes  that  any  creature 
can  be  made,  or  can  be  changed  for  the 
better  or  the  worse,  or  be  transformed 
into  any  other  shape  or  likeness  except 
by  the  Creator  Himself  Who  made  all, 
is  without  doubt  an  infidel.  .  .  . 

The  reader  must  here  remark  two  chief 
things.  First,  concerning  the  words 
“  be  made  ” ;  and  secondly,  concerning 
the  words  “  be  transformed  into 
another  likeness.”  And  as  to  the  first, 
it  is  answered  that  “  be  made  ”  can  be 
understood  in  two  ways:  namely,  as 
meaning  “  be  created,”  or  as  in  the 
sense  of  the  natural  production  of  any¬ 
thing.  Now  in  the  first  sense  it  be¬ 
longs  only  to  God,  as  is  well  known, 
Who  in  His  infinite  might  can  make 
something  out  of  nothing. 

But  in  the  second  sense  there  is  a 
distinction  to  be  drawn  between  crea¬ 
tures  ;  for  some  are  perfect  creatures,  like 
a  man,  and  an  ass,  etc.  And  others  are 
imperfect,  such  as  serpents,  frogs,  mice, 
etc.,  for  they  can  also  be  generated 
from  putrefaction.  Now  the  Canon 
obviously  speaks  only  of  the  former  sort, 
not  of  the  second;  for  in  the  case  of 
the  second  it  can  be  proved  from  what 
Blessed  Albert  says  in  his  book  On 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  8 


MALEFICARUM 


123 


Animals ,  where  he  asks :  whether  devils 
can  make  true  animals ;  and  he  answers 
that  they  can,  but  only  imperfect 
animals;  and  still  with  this  difference, 
that  they  cannot  do  so  in  an  instant, 
as  God  does,  but  by  some  motion, 
however  sudden,  as  is  shown  in  the 
case  of  the  Magicians  in  Exodus  vii.  The 
reader  may,  if  he  likes,  refer  to  some 
of  the  remarks  in  the  question  we  have 
quoted  in  the  First  Part  of  the  work,  and 
in  the  solution  of  the  first  argument. 

Secondly,  it  is  said  that  they  cannot 
transmute  any  creature.  You  may  say 
that  transmutation  is  of  two  sorts, 
substantial  and  accidental ;  and  this 
accidental  is  again  of  two  kinds,  con¬ 
sisting  either  in  the  natural  form  be¬ 
longing  to  the  thing  which  is  seen,  or 
in  a  form  which  does  not  belong  to  the 
thing  which  is  seen,  but  exists  only  in 
the  organs  and  perceptions  of  him  who 
sees.  The  Canon  speaks  of  the  former, 
and  especially  of  formal  and  actual 
transmutation,  in  which  one  substance 
is  transmuted  into  another;  and  this 
sort  only  God  can  effect,  Who  is  the 
Creator  of  such  actual  substances. 
And  it  speaks  also  of  the  second,  al¬ 
though  the  devil  can  effect  that,  in  so 
far  as,  with  God’s  permission,  he  causes 
certain  diseases  and  induces  some 
appearance  on  the  accidental  body.  As 
when  a  face  appears  to  be  leprous,  or 
some  such  thing. 

But  properly  speaking  it  is  not  such 
matters  that  are  in  question,  but 
apparitions  and  glamours,  by  which 
things  seem  to  be  transmuted  into 
other  likenesses;  and  we  say  that  the 
words  of  the  Canon  cannot  exclude 
such  transmutations ;  for  their  exist¬ 
ence  is  proved  by  authority,  by  reason, 
and  by  experience ;  namely,  by  certain 
experiences  related  by  S.  Augustine  in 
Book  XVIII,  chapter  17,  of  the 
De  Ciuitate  Dei ,  and  by  the  arguments  in 
explanation  of  them.  For  among  other 
prestidigitator'/  transformations,  he 
mentions  that  the  very  famous  Sorceress, 
Circe,  changed  the  companions  of 
Ulysses  into  beasts;  and  that  certain 
innkeepers’  wives  had  turned  their 
guests  into  beasts  of  burden.  He  men¬ 
tions  also  that  the  companions  of 
Diomedes  were  changed  into  birds,  and 
for  a  long  time  flew  about  the  temple 
f  of  Diomedes ;  and  that  Praestantius 
tells  it  for  a  fact  that  his  father  said  that 
he  had  been  a  packhorse,  and  had 
carried  corn  with  other  animals. 


Now  when  the  companions  of 
Ulysses  were  changed  into  beasts,  it 
was  only  an  appearance,  or  deception 
of  the  eyes ;  for  the  animal  shapes  were 
drawn  out  of  the  repository  or  memory 
of  images,  and  impressed  on  the 
imaginative  faculty.  And  so  imaginary 
vision  was  caused,  and  through  the 
strong  impression  on  the  other  senses 
and  organs,  the  beholder  thought  that 
he  saw  animals,  in  the  manner  of  which 
we  have  already  treated.  But  how 
these  things  can  be  done  by  the  devil’s 
power  without  any  injury  will  be  shown 
later. 

But  when  the  guests  were  changed 
into  beasts  of  burden  by  the  inn¬ 
keepers’  wives ;  and  when  the  father  of 
Praestantius  thought  he  was  a  pack- 
horse  and  carried  corn;  it  is  to  be 
noted  that  in  these  cases  there  were 
three  deceptions.  * 

First,  that  those  men  were  caused  by 
a  glamour  to  seem  to  be  changed  into 
beasts  of  burden,  and  this  change  was 
caused  in  the  way  we  have  said. 
Second,  that  devils  invisibly  bore  those 
burdens  up  when  they  were  too  heavy 
to  be  carried.  Third,  that  those  who 
seemed  to  others  to  be  changed  in  shape 
seemed  also  to  themselves  to  be  changed 
into  beasts ;  as  it  happened  to  Nabucho- 
donosor,  who  lived  for  seven  years 
eating  straw  like  an  ox.* 

And  as  to  the  comrades  of  Diomedes 
being  changed  into  birds  and  flying 
round  his  temple,  it  is  to  be  said  that 
this  Diomedes  was  one  of  the  Greeks 
who  went  to  the  siege  of  Troy;  and 
when  he  wished  to  return  home,  he  was 
drowned  with  his  comrades  in  the  sea ; 
and  then,  at  the  suggestion  of  some 
idol,  a  temple  was  built  to  him  that  he 
might  be  numbered  among  the  gods; 
and  for  a  long  time,  to  keep  that  error 
alive,  devils  in  the  shape  of  birds  flew 
about  in  place  of  his  companions. 
Therefore  that  superstition  was  one  of 
the  glamours  we  have  spoken  of;  for 
it  was  not  caused  by  the  impression  of 
mental  images  on  the  imaginative 
faculty,  but  by  their  flying  in  the  sight 
of  men  in  the  assumed  bodies  of  birds. 

But  if  it  is  asked  whether  the  devils 

*  “ An  Ox”  “ Daniel ”  iv,  30 :  “ The  same 
hour  the  word  was  fulfilled  upon  Nabucho- 
donosor ,  and  he  was  driven  away  from  among 
men ,  and  did  eat  grass  like  an  ox,  and  his  body 
was  wet  with  the  dew  of  heaven:  till  his  hairs 
grew  like  the  feathers  of  eagles  and  his  nails  like 
birds'  claws” 


124 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  9 


could  have  deluded  the  onlookers  by 
the  above-mentioned  method  of  work¬ 
ing  upon  their  mental  images,  and  not 
by  assuming  aerial  bodies  like  flying 
birds,  the  answer  is  that  they  could  have 
done  so. 

For  it  was  the  opinion  of  some  (as 
S.  Thomas  tells  in  the  Second  Book  of 
Sentences ,  dist.  8,  art.  2)  that  no  Angel, 
ood  or  bad,  ever  assumed  a  body; 
ut  that  all  that  we  read  in  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  about  their  appearances  was 
caused  by  a  glamour,  or  by  imaginary 
vision. 

And  here  the  learned  Saint  notes  a 
difference  between  a  glamour  and 
imaginary  vision.  For  in  a  glamour 
there  may  be  an  exterior  object  which 
is  seen,  but  it  seems  other  than  it  is. 
But  imaginary  vision  does  not  neces¬ 
sarily  require  an  exterior  object,  but 
can  be  caused  without  that  and  only 
by  those  inner  mental  images  impressed 
on  the  imagination. 

So,  following  their  opinion,  the  com¬ 
rades  of  Diomedes  were  not  repre¬ 
sented  by  devils  in  the  assumed  bodies 
and  likeness  of  birds,  but  only  by  a 
fantastic  and  imaginary  vision  caused 
by  working  upon  those  mental  images, 
etc. 

But  the  learned  Saint  condemns  this 
as  an  erroneous  and  not  a  simple 
opinion  (though,  it  is  piously  believed, 
it  is  not  actually  heretical),  although 
such  appearances  of  good  and  bad 
Angels  may  at  times  have  been 
imaginary,  with  no  assumed  body. 
But,  as  he  says,  the  saints  are  agreed 
that  the  Angels  also  appeared  to  the 
actual  sight,  and  such  appearance  was 
in  an  assumed  body.  And  the  scrip¬ 
tural  text  reads  more  as  if  it  speaks  of 
bodily  appearances  than  imaginary 
or  prestidigitatory  ones.  Therefore  we 
can  say  for  the  present  concerning  any 
visions  like  that  of  the  comrades  of 
Diomedes :  that  although  those  com¬ 
rades  could  by  the  devil’s  work  have 
appeared  in  the  imaginary  vision  of  the 
beholders  in  the  manner  we  have  said, 
yet  it  is  rather  presumed  that  they  were 
caused  to  be  seen  by  devils  in  assumed 
aerial  bodies  like  flying  birds;  or  else 
that  other  natural  birds  were  caused 
by  devils  to  represent  themi 

☆ 


CHAPTER  IX 

How  Devils  may  enter  the  Human  Body 
and  the  Head  without  doing  any  Hurty 
when  they  cause  such  Metamorphosis  by 
Means  of  Prestidigitation. 

ONCERNING  the  method  of  caus¬ 
ing  these  illusory  transmutations  it 
may  further  be  asked :  whether  the 
devils  are  then  inside  the  bodies  and 
heads  of  those  who  are  deceived,  and 
whether  the  latter  are  to  be  considered 
as  possessed  by  devils ;  how  it  can  hap¬ 
pen  without  injury  to  the  inner  per¬ 
ceptions  and  faculties  that  a  mental 
image  is  transferred  from  one  inner 
faculty  to  another ;  and  whether  or  not 
such  work  ought  to  be  considered 
miraculous. 

First  we  must  again  refer  to  a  dis¬ 
tinction  between  such  illusory  glam¬ 
ours;  for  sometimes  the  outer  percep¬ 
tions  only  are  affected,  and  sometimes 
the  inner  perceptions  are  deluded  and 
so  affect  the  outer  perceptions. 

In  the  former  case  the  glamour  can 
be  caused  without  the  devils’  entering 
into  the  outer  perceptions,  and  merely 
by  an  exterior  illusion ;  as  when  the 
devil  wishes  to  hide  some  body  by  the 
interposition  of  some  other  body,  or  in 
some  other  way;  or  when  he  himself 
assumes  a  body  and  imposes  himself 
on  the  vision. 

But  in  the  latter  case  it  is  necessary 
that  he  must  first  occupy  the  head  and 
the  faculties.  And  this  is  proved  by- 
authority  and  by  reason. 

And  it  is  not  a  valid  objection  to  say 
that  two  created  spirits  cannot  be  in 
one  and  the  same  place,  and  that  the 
soul  pervades  the  whole  of  the  body. 
For  on  this  question  there  is  the 
authority  of  S.  John  Damascene,  when 
he  says :  Where  the  Angel  is,  there  he 
operates.  And  S.  Thomas,  in  the 
Second  Book  of  Sentences ,  dist.  7,  art.  5, 
says :  All  Angels,  good  and  bad,  by  their 
natural  power,  which  is  superior  to  all 
bodily  power,  are  able  to  transmute 
our  bodies. 

And  this  is  clearly  true,  not  only  by 
reason  of  the  superior  nobility  of  their 
nature,  but  because  the  whole  mechan¬ 
ism  of  the  world  and  all  corporeal 
creatures  are  administrated  by  Angels ; 
as  S.  Gregory  says  in  the  4th  Dialogue : 
In  this  visible  world  nothing  can  be 
disposed  except  by  an  invisible 
creature.  Therefore  all  corporeal 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  9 


MALEFICARUM 


125 


matters  are  governed  by  the  Angels, 
who  are  also  called,  not  only  by  the 
Holy  Doctors  but  also  by  all  the 
Philosophers,  the  Powers  which  move 
the  stars.  It  is  clear  also  from  the  fact 
that  all  human  bodies  are  moved  by 
their  souls,  just  as  all  other  matter  is 
moved  by  the  stars  and  the  Powers 
which  move  them.  Any  who  wish  may 
refer  to  S.  Thomas  in  the  First  Part, 
Quest.  90,  art.  1. 

From  this  it  is  concluded  that,  since 
devils  operate  there  where  they  are, 
therefore  when  they  confuse  the  fancy 
and  the  inner  perceptions  they  are 
existing  in  them. 

Again,  although  to  enter  the  soul  is 
possible  only  to  God  Who  created  it, 
yet  devils  can,  with  God’s  permission, 
enter  our  bodies;  and  they  can  then 
make  impressions  on  the  inner  faculties 
corresponding  to  the  bodily  organs. 
And  by  those  impressions  the  organs 
are  affected  in  proportion  as  the  inner 
perceptions  are  affected  in  the  way 
which  has  been  shown:  that  the  devil 
can  draw  out  some  image  retained  in  a 
faculty  corresponding  to  one  of  the 
senses;  as  he  draws  from  the  memory, 
which  is  in  the  back  part  of  the  head, 
an  image  of  a  horse,  and  locally  moves 
that  phantasm  to  the  middle  part  of 
the  head,  where  are  the  cells  of 
imaginative  power;  and  finally  to  the 
sense  of  reason,  which  is  in  the  front 
of  the  head.  And  he  causes  such  a 
sudden  change  and  confusion,  that 
such  objects  are  necessarily  thought 
to  be  actual  things  seen  with  the  eyes. 
This  can  be  clearly  exemplified  by  the 
natural  defect  in  frantic  men  and  other 
maniacs. 

But  if  it  is  asked  how  he  can  do  this 
without  causing  pain  in  the  head,  the 
answer  is  easy.  For  in  the  first  place  he 
does  not  cause  any  actual  physical 
change  in  the  organs,  but  only  moves 
the  mental  images.  And  secondly,  he 
does  not  effect  these  changes  by  inject¬ 
ing  any  active  quality  which  would 
necessarily  cause  pain,  since  the  devil 
is  himself  without  any  corporeal 
quality,  and  can  therefore  operate 
without  the  use  of  any  such  quality. 
Thirdly,  as  has  been  said,  he  effects 
these  transmutations  only  by  a  local 
movement  from  one  organ  to  another, 
and  not  by  other  movements  through 
which  painful  transformations  are 
sometimes  caused. 

And  as  for  the  objection  that  two 


spirits  cannot  separately  exist  in  the 
same  place,  and  that,  since  the  soul 
exists  in  the  head,  how  can  a  devil  be 
there  also?  It  is  to  be  said  that  the 
soul  is  thought  to  reside  in  the  centre  of 
the  heart,  in  which  it  communicates 
with  all  the  members  by  an  outpouring 
of  life.  An  example  can  be  taken  from 
a  spider,  which  feels  in  the  middle  of  its 
web  when  any  part  of  the  web  is 
touched. 

However,  S.  Augustine  says  in  his 
book  On  the  Spirit  and  the  Soul  ,*  that  it 
is  all  in  all,  and  all  in  every  part  of  the 
body.  Granting  that  the  soul  is  in  the 
head,  still  the  devil  can  work  there; 
for  his  work  is  different  from  the  work 
of  the  soul.  The  work  of  the  soul  is  in 
the  body,  to  inform  it  and  fill  it  with 
life ;  so  that  it  exists  not  merely  locally, 
but  in  the  whole  matter.  But  the  devil 
works  in  such  a  part  and  such  a  place 
of  the  body,  effecting  his  changes  in 
respect  of  the  mental  images.  There¬ 
fore,  since  there  is  no  confusion  be¬ 
tween  their  respective  operations,  they 
can  both  exist  together  in  the  same  part 
of  the  body. 

There  is  also  the  question  whether 
such  men  are  to  be  considered  obsessed 
or  frenzied,  that  is,  possessed  of  devils. 
But  this  is  considered  separately ; 
namely,  whether  it  is  possible  through 
the  work  of  witches  for  a  man  to  be 
obsessed  with  a  devil,  that  is,  that  the 
devil  should  actually  and  bodily 
possess  him.  And  this  question  is 
specially  discussed  in  the  following 
chapter,  since  it  has  this  special  diffi¬ 
culty,  namely,  whether  this  can  be 
caused  through  the  operations  of 
witches. 

But  as  to  the  question  whether  the 
temporal  works  of  witches  and  devils 
are  to  be  considered  as  miracles  or  of  a 
miraculous  nature ;  it  is  to  be  said  that 
they  are  so,  in  so  far  as  they  are  beyond 
the  order  of  created  nature  as  known 
to  us,  and  are  done  by  creatures  un¬ 
known  to  us.  But  they  are  not  properly 
speaking  miracles  as  are  those  which 
are  outside  the  whole  of  created  nature ; 
as  are  the  miracles  of  God  and  the 
Saints.  (See  what  was  written  in  the 
First  Part  of  this  work,  in  the  Fifth 
Question,  in  the  refutation  of  the  third 
error.) 


*  “On  the  Spirit .”  The  treatise  “De  Natura 
et  Origine  Animae ”  was  written  towards  the  end 
of  the  year  419. 


126 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  9 


Civ»*  * 


But  there  are  those  who  object  that 
this  sort  of  works  must  not  be  con¬ 
sidered  miracles,  but  simply  works  of 
the  devil ;  since  the  purpose  of  miracles 
is  the  strengthening  of  the  Faith,  and 
they  must  not  be  conceded  to  the 
adversary  of  the  Faith.  And  also  be¬ 
cause  the  signs  of  Antichrist  are  called 
lying  signs  by  the  Apostle.* 

First  it  is  to  be  said  that  to  work 
miracles  is  the  gift  of  freely  given  grace. 
And  they  can  be  done  by  bad  men  and 
bad  spirits,  up  to  the  limits  of  the  power 
which  is  in  them. 

Wherefore  the  miracles  wrought  by 
the  good  can  be  distinguished  from 
those  wrought  by  the  wicked  in  at 
least  three  ways.  First,  the  signs  which 
are  given  by  the  good  are  done  by 
Divine  power  in  such  matters  as  are 
beyond  the  capacity  of  their  own 
natural  power,  such  as  raising  the  dead, 
and  things  of  that  sort,  whicn  the  devils 
are  not  able  to  accomplish  in  truth,  but 
only  by  an  illusion:  so  Simon  Magus 
moved  the  head  of  a  dead  man;  but 
such  manifestations  cannot  last  long. 
Secondly,  they  can  be  distinguished  by 
their  utility;  for  the  miracles  of  the 
good  are  of  a  useful  nature,  as  the 
healing  of  sickness,  and  such  things. 
But  the  miracles  done  by  witches  are 
concerned  with  harmful  and  idle 
things;  as  when  they  fly  in  the  air,  or 
benumb  the  limbs  of  men,  or  such 
things.  And  S.  Peter  assigns  this  differ¬ 
ence  in  the  Itinerarium  f  of  Clement. 

The  third  difference  relates  to  the 
Faith.  For  the  miracles  of  the  good  are 
ordained  for  the  edification  of  the 
Faith  and  of  good  living;  whereas  the 
miracles  of  the  wicked  are  manifestly 
detrimental  to  the  Faith  and  to 
righteousness 

They  are  distinguished  also  by  the 
way  in  which  they  are  done.  For  the 
good  do  miracles  by  a  pious  and 
reverent  invocation  of  the  Divine 
Name.  But  witches  and  wicked  men 
work  them  by  certain  ravings  and 
invocations  of  devils. 

And  there  is  no  difficulty  in  the  fact 
that  the  Apostle  called  the  works  of 
the  devil  and  Antichrist  lying  wonders ;{ 


*  “Apostle”  S.  Paul ,  “II.  Thessalonians”  ii, 

8,  9. 

f  “Itinerarium.”  Pseudo-Clementines. 

J  “Lying  Wonders.”  “II.  Thessalonians”  ii, 
8~g:  “That  wicked  one  .  .  .  whose  coming  is 
according  to  the  working  of  Satan,  in  all  power, 
and  signs,  and  lying  wonders .” 


for  the  marvels  so  done  by  Divine  per¬ 
mission  are  true  in  some  respects  and 
false  in  others.  They  are  true  in  so  far 
as  they  are  within  the  limits  of  the 
devil’s  power.  But  they  are  false  when 
he  appears  to  do  things  which  are 
beyond  his  power,  such  as  raising  the 
dead,  or  making  the  blind  to  see.  For 
when  he  appears  to  do  the  former,  he 
either  enters  into  the  dead  body  or  else 
removes  it,  and  himself  takes  its  place 
in  an  assumed  aerial  body;  and  in  the 
latter  case  he  takes  away  the  sight  by  a 
glamour,  and  then  suddenly  restores  it 
by  taking  away  the  disability  he  has 
caused,  not  by  bringing  light  to  the 
inner  perceptions,  as  is  told  in  the 
legend  of  Bartholomew.  Indeed  all  the 
marvellous  works  of  Antichrist  and  of 
witches  can  be  said  to  be  lying  signs, 
inasmuch  as  their  only  purpose  is  to 
deceive.  See  S.  Thomas,  dist.  8,  de 
Uirtute  Daemonum . 

We  may  also  quote  here  the  dis¬ 
tinction  which  is  drawn  in  the  Com¬ 
pendium  of  Theological  Truth  between 
a  wonder  and  a  miracle.  For  in  a 
miracle  four  conditions,  are  required: 
that  it  should  be  done  by  God ;  that  it 
should  be  beyond  the  existing  order 
of  nature;  thirdly,  that  it  should  be 
manifest;  and  fourthly,  that  it  should 
be  for  the  corroboration  of  the  Faith. 
But  since  the  works  of  witches  fail  to 
fulfil  at  least  the  first  and  last  con¬ 
ditions,  therefore  they  may  be  called 
wonderful  works,  but  not  miracles. 

It  can  also  be  argued  in  this  way. 
Although  witches’  works  can  in  a  sense 
be  said  to  be  miraculous,  yet  some 
miracles  are  supernatural,  some  un¬ 
natural,  and  some  preternatural.  And 
they  are  supernatural  when  they  can 
be  compared  with  nothing  in  nature, 
or  in  natural  power,  as  when  a  virgin 
gives  birth.  They  are  unnatural  when 
they  are  against  the  normal  course  of 
nature  but  do  not  overstep  the  limits 
of  nature,  such  as  causing  the  blind  to 
see.  And  they  are  preternatural  when 
they  are  done  in  a  manner  parallel  to  r  ( 
that  of  nature,  as  when  rods  are  changed  - , 
‘into  serpents ;  for  this  can  be  done 
naturally  also,  through  long  putre¬ 
faction  on  account  of  seminal  reasons ; 
and  thus  the  works  of  magicians  may 
be  said  to  be  marvellous. 

It  is  expedient  to  recount  an  actual 
example,  and  then  to  explain  it  step 
by  step.  There  is  a  town  in  the 
diocese  of  Strasburg,  the  name  of 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  9 


MALEFICARUM 


127 


which  it  is  charitable  and  honourable 
to  withhold,  in  which  a  workman  was 
one  day  chopping  some  wood  to  burn 
in  his  house.  A  large  cat  suddenly 
appeared  and  began  to  attack  him; 
and  when  he  was  driving  it  off, 
another  even  larger  one  came  and 
attacked  him  with  the  first  more 
fiercely.  And  when  he  again  tried  to 
drive  them  away,  behold,  three  of  them 
together  attacked  him,  jumping  up  at 
his  face,  and  biting  and  scratching  his 
legs.  In  great  fright  and,  as  he  said, 
more  panic-stricken  than  he  had  ever 
been,  he  crossed  himself  and,  leaving 
his  work,  fell  upon  the  cats,  which  were 
swarming  over  the  wood  and  again 
leaping  at  his  face  and  throat,  and  with 
difficulty  drove  them  away  by  beating 
one  on  the  head,  another  on  the  legs, 
and  another  on  the  back.  After  the 
space  of  an  hour,  while  he  was  again 
engaged  upon  his  task,  two  servants  of 
the  town  magistrates  came  and  took 
him  as  a  malefactor  and  led  him  into 
the  presence  of  the  bailiff  or  judge.  And 
the  judge,  looking  at  him  from  a 
distance,  and  refusing  to  hear  him, 
ordered  him  to  be  thrown  into  the 
deepest  dungeon  of  a  certain  tower  or 
prison,  where  those  who  were  under 
sentence  of  death  were  placed.  The 
man  cried  out,  and  for  three  days 
bitterly  complained  to  the  prison  guards 
that  he  should  suffer  in  that  way,  when 
he  was  conscious  of  no  crime ;  but  the 
more  the  guards  tried  to  procure  him  a 
hearing,  the  more  furious  the  judge 
became,  expressing  in  the  strongest 
terms  his  indignation  that  so  great  a 
malefactor  had  not  yet  acknowledged 
his  crime,  but  dared  to  proclaim  his 
innocence  when  the  evidence  of  the 
facts  proved  his  horrible  crime.  But 
although  these  could  not  prevail  upon 
him,  yet  the  judge  was  induced  by  the 
advice  of  the  other  magistrates  to  grant 
the  man  a  hearing.  So  when  he  was 
brought  out  of  prison  into  the  presence 
of  the  judge,  and  the  judge  refused  to 
look  at  him,  the  poor  man  threw  him¬ 
self  before  the  knees  of  the  other 
magistrates,  pleading  that  he  might 
know  the  reason  for  his  misfortune ;  and 
the  judge  broke  into  these  words:  You 
most  wicked  of  men,  how  can  you  not 
acknowledge  your  crime?  At  such  a 
time  on  such  a  day  you  beat  three 
respected  matrons  of  this  town,  so 
that  they  lie  in  their  beds  unable  to 
rise  or  to  move.  The  poor  man  cast 


his  mind  back  to  the  events  of  that  day 
and  that  hour,  and  said:  Never  in  all 
my  life  have  I  struck  or  beaten  a 
woman,  and  I  can  prove  by  credible 
witnesses  that  at  that  time  on  that  day 
I  was  busy  chopping  wood;  and  an 
hour  afterwards  your  servants  found 
me  still  engaged  on  that  task.  Then 
the  judge  again  exclaimed  in  a  fury : 
See  how  he  tries  to  conceal  his  crime! 
The  women  are  bewailing  their  blows, 
they  exhibit  the  marks,  and  publicly 
testify  that  he  struck  them.  Then  the 
poor  man  considered  more  closely 
on  that  event,  and  said :  I  remember 
that  I  struck  some  creatures  at  that 
time,  but  they  were  not  women.  The 
magistrates  in  astonishment  asked  him 
to  relate  what  sort  of  creatures  he  had 
struck ;  and  he  told,  to  their  great 
amazement,  all  that  had  happened,  as 
we  have  related  it.  So,  understanding 
that  it  was  the  work  of  the  devil,  they 
released  the  poor  man  and  let  him  go 
away  unharmed,  telling  him  not  to 
speak  of  this  matter  to  anyone.  But  it 
could  not  be  hidden  from  those  devout 
persons  present  who  were  zealous  for 
the  Faith. 

Now  concerning  this  it  may  be  asked, 
whether  the  devils  appeared  thus  in 
assumed  shapes  without  the  presence 
of  the  witches,  or  whether  the  witches 
were  actually  present,  converted  by 
some  glamour  into  the  shapes  of  those 
beasts.  And  in  answering  this  it  should 
be  said  that,  although  it  was  equally 
possible  for  the  devils  to  act  in  either 
way,  it  is  rather  presumed  that  it  was 
done  in  the  second  manner.  For  when 
the  devils  attacked  the  workman  in 
the  shapes  of  cats,  they  could  suddenly, 
by  local  motion  through  the  air,  trans¬ 
fer  the  women  to  their  houses  with  the 
blows  which  they  received  as  cats  from 
the  workman;  and  no  one  doubts  that 
this  was  because  of  a  mutual  pact 
formerly  made  between  them.  For  in 
the  same  way  they  can  cause  an  injury 
or  wound  in  a  person  whom  they  wish 
to  bewitch,  by  means  of  puncturing  a 
painted  or  molten  image  which  repre¬ 
sents  the  person  whom  they  wish  to 
injure.  Many  examples  of  this  could  be 
adduced. 

And  it  cannot  be  validly  objected 
that  perhaps  those  women  who  were 
so  injured  were  innocent,  because 
according  to  previously  quoted 
examples  it  is  shown  that  injuries  may 
happen  even  to  the  innocent,  when 


128 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  io 


someone  is  unknowingly  hurt  by  a 
witch  by  means  of  an  artificial  image. 
The  example  is  not  apposite;  for  it  is 
one  thing  to  be  hurt  by  a  devil  through 
a  witch,  and  another  thing  to  be  hurt 
by  the  devil  himself  without  any  witch. 
For  the  devil  receives  blows  in  the 
form  of  an  animal,  and  transfers  them 
to  one  who  is  bound  to  him  by  a  pact, 
when  it  is  with  such  an  one’s  consent 
that  he  acts  in  this  manner  in  such  a 
shape.  Therefore  he  can  in  this  way 
hurt  only  the  guilty  who  are  bound  to 
him  by  a  pact,  and  never  the  innocent. 
But  when  devils  seek  to  do  injury  by 
means  of  witches,  then,  with  the  per¬ 
mission  of  God  for  the  avenging  of  so 
great  a  crime,  they  often  afflict  even  the 
innocent. 

Nevertheless,  devils  at  times,  with 
God’s  permission,  in  their  own  persons 
hurt  even  the  innocent;  and  formerly 
they  injured  the  Blessed  Job,  although 
they  were  not  personally  present,  nor 
did  the  devils  make  use  of  any  such 
illusory  apparition  as  in  the  example 
we  have  quoted,  when  they  used  the 
phantasm  of  a  cat,  an  animal  which  is, 
in  the  Scriptures,  an  appropriate 
symbol  of  the  perfidious,  just  as  a  dog 
is  the  symbol  of  preachers;  for  cats 
are  always  setting  snares  for  each  other. 
And  the  Order  of  Preaching  Friars  was 
repr  esented  in  its  first  Founder  by  a  dog 
barking  against  heresy. 

Therefore  it  is  presumed  that  those 
three  witches  attacked  the  workman 
in  the  second  manner,  either  because 
the  first  manner  did  not  please  them 
so  much,  or  because  the  second  suited 
more  with  their  curiosity. 

And  this  was  the  order  which  they 
observed.  First,  they  were  urged  to  do 
this  at  the  instance  of  the  devils,  and 
not  the  devils  at  the  instance  of  the 
witches.  For  so  we  have  often  found 
in  their  confessions,  that  at  the  instance 
of  devils  who  constantly  spur  them  on 
|  to  commit  evil,  they  have  to  do  more 
than  they  would.  And  it  is  likely  that 
the  witches  would  not,  on  their  own 
account,  have  thought  of  attacking  the 
poor  man. 

And  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  reason 
why  the  devils  urged  them  to  do  this 
is  that  they  knew  well  that,  when  a 
manifest  crime  remains  unpunished, 
God  is  the  more  offended,  the  Catholic 
Faith  is  brought  into  disrepute,  and 
the  number  of  witches  is  the  more 
increased.  Secondly,  having  gained 


their  consent,  the  devils  transported 
their  bodies  with  that  ease  which 
belongs  to  a  spiritual  power  over  a 
bodily  power.  Thirdly,  having  in  the 
way  which  has  been  told  been  turned 
into  the  forms  of  beasts  by  some  glamour, 
they  had  to  attack  the  workman ;  and 
the  devils  did  not  defend  them  from 
the  blows,  although  they  could  have 
done  so  just  as  easily  as  they  had  trans¬ 
ported  them ;  but  they  permitted  them 
to  be  beaten,  and  the  one  who  beat 
them  to  be  known,  in  the  knowledge 
that  those  crimes  would,  for  the  reasons 
we  have  mentioned,  remain  unpunished 
by  faint-hearted  men  who  had  no  zeal 
for  the  Faith. 

We  read  also  of  a  certain  holy  man, 
who  once  found  the  devil  in  the  form 
of  a  devout  priest  preaching  in  a 
church,  and  knowing  in  his  spirit  that 
it  was  the  devil,  observed  his  words, 
whether  he  was  teaching  the  people 
well  or  ill.  And  finding  him  irre¬ 
proachable  and  inveighing  against  sin, 
he  went  up  to  him  at  the  end  of  the 
sermon  and  asked  him  the  reason  for 
this.  And  the  devil  answered :  I  preach 
the  truth,  knowing  that,  because  they 
are  hearers  of  the  word  only,  and  not 
doers,  God  is  the  more  offended  and 
my  gain  is  increased. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  X 

Of  the  Method  by  which  Devils  through 
the  Operations  of  Witches  sometimes 
actually  possess  Men. 

IT  has  been  shown  in  the  previous 
chapter  how  devils  can  enter  the 
heads  and  other  parts  of  the  body  of 
men,  and  can  move  the  inner  mental 
images  from  place  to  place.  But  some¬ 
one  may  doubt  whether  they  are  able  at 
the  instance  of  witches  to  obsess  men 
entirely ;  or  feel  some  uncertainty  about 
their  various  methods  of  causing  such 
obsession  without  the  instance  of 
witches.  And  to  clear  up  these  doubts 
we  must  undertake  three  explanations. 
First,  as  to  the  various  methods  of 
possession.  Secondly,  how  at  the  in¬ 
stance  of  witches  and  with  God’s 
permission  devils  at  times  possess  men 
in  all  those  ways.  Thirdly,  we  must 
substantiate  our  arguments  with  facts 
and  examples. 

With  reference  to  the  first,  we  must 


Part  II.  Qn  i,  Ch.  io 


MALEFICARUM 


129 


make  an  exception  of  that  general 
method  by  which  the  devil  inhabits  a 
man  in  any  mortal  sin.  S.  Thomas,  in 
Book  3,  quest.  3,  speaks  of  this  method 
where  he  considers  the  doubt  whether 
the  devil  always  substantially  possesses 
a  man  when  he  commits  mortal  sin; 
and  the  reason  for  the  doubt  is  that  the 
indwelling  Holy  Ghost  always  forms  a 
man  with  grace,  according  to  I.  Corin¬ 
thians,  iii:  Ye  are  the  temple  of  God, 
and  the  spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you. 
And,  since  guilt  is  opposed  to  grace,  it 
would  seem  that  there  were  opposing 
forces  in  the  same  place. 

And  there  he  proves  that  to  possess  a 
man  can  be  understood  in  two  ways: 
either  with  regard  to  the  soul,  or  with 
regard  to  the  body.  And  in  the  first 
way  it  is  not  possible  for  the  devil  to 
possess  the  soul,  since  God  alone  can 
enter  that;  therefore  the  devil  is  not 
in  this  way  the  cause  of  sin,  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  permits  the  soul  itself  to 
commit ;  so  there  is  no  similitude 
between  the  two. 

But  as  to  the  body,  we  may  say  that 
the  devil  can  possess  a  man  in  two  ways, 
just  as  there  are  two  classes  of  men: 
those  who  are  in  sin,  and  those  who  are 
in  grace.  In  the  first  way,  we  may  say 
that,  since  a  man  is  by  any  mortal  sin 
brought  into  the  devil’s  service,  in  so 
far  as  the  devil  provides  the  outer 
suggestion  of  sin  either  to  the  senses  or 
to  the  imagination,  to  that  extent  he  is 
said  to  inhabit  the  character  of  a  man 
when  her  is  moved  by  every  stirring  of 
temptation,  like  a  ship  in  the  sea 
without  a  rudder. 

The  devil  can  also  essentially  possess 
a  man,  as  is  clear  in  the  case  of  frantic 
men.  But  this  rather  belongs  to  the 
question  of  punishment  than  that  of 
sin,  as  will  be  shown ;  and  bodily 
punishments  are  not  always  the  con¬ 
sequence  of  sin,  but  are  inflicted  now 
upon  sinners  and  now  upon  the  inno¬ 
cent.  Therefore  both  those  who  are 
and  those  who  are  not  in  a  state  of 
grace  can,  in  the  depth  of  the  incom¬ 
prehensible  judgement  of  God,  be 
essentially  possessed  by  devils.  And 
though  this  method  of  possession  is  not 
quite  pertinent  to  our  inquiry,  we 
have  set  it  down  lest  it  should  seem 
impossible  to  anyone  that,  with  God’s 
permission,  men  should  at  times  be 
substantially  inhabited  by  devils  at 
the  instance  of  witches. 

We  may  say,  therefore,  that  just  as 


there  are  five  ways  in  which  devils  by 
themselves,  without  witches,  can  injure 
and  possess  men,  so  they  can  also  do  so 
in  all  those  ways  at  the  instance  of 
witches;  since  then  God  is  the  more 
offended,  and  greater  power  of  molest¬ 
ing  men  is  allowed  to  the  devil  through 
witches.  And  the  methods  are  briefly 
the  following,  excepting  the  fact  that 
they  sometimes  plague  a  man  through 
his  external  possessions :  sometimes  they 
injure  men  only  in  their  own  bodies ; 
sometimes  in  their  bodies  and  in  their 
inner  faculties;  sometimes  they  only 
tempt  them  inwardly  and  outwardly; 
others  they  at  times  deprive  of  the  use  of 
their  reason;  others  they  change  into 
the  appearance  of  irrational  beasts. 
We  shall  speak  of  these  methods  singly. 

But  first  we  shall  rehearse  five  reasons 
why  God  allows  men  to  be  possessed, 
for  the  sake  of  preserving  a  due  order  in 
our  matter.  For  sometimes  a  man  is 
possessed  for  his  own  greater  advantage ; 
sometimes  for  a  slight  sin  of  another; 
sometimes  for  his  own  venial  sin ; 
sometimes  for  another’s  heavy  sin ;  and 
sometimes  for  his  own  heavy  sin.  For 
all  these  reasons  let  no  one  doubt  that 
God  allows  such  things  to  be  done  by 
devils  at  the  instance  of  witches;  and 
it  is  better  to  prove  each  of  them  by 
the  Scriptures,  rather  than  by  recent 
examples,  since  new  things  are  always 
strengthened  by  old  examples. 

For  an  example  of  the  first  is  clearly 
shown  in  the  Dialogue  of  Severus,*  a 
very  dear  disciple  of  S.  Martin,  where 
he  tells  that  a  certain  Father  of  very 
holy  life  was  so  gifted  by  grace  with 
the  power  of  expelling  devils,  that  they 
were  put  to  flight  not  only  by  his  words, 
but  even  by  his  letters  or  his  hair-shirt. 
And  since  the  Father  became  very 
famous  in  the  world,  and  felt  himself 
tempted  with  vainglory,  although  he 
manfully  resisted  that  vice,  yet,  that 
he  might  be  the  more  humiliated,  he 
prayed  with  his  whole  heart  to  God 
that  he  might  be  for  five  months 

*  “Severus.”  Sulpicius  Severus ,  who  has  been 
styled  the  Christian  Sallust ,  was  born  in  Aqui¬ 
taine  about  360 ;  and  died  circa  420-23.  He 
became  a  personal  friend  and  enthusiastic 
disciple  of  S.  Martin ,  and  lived  near  Eauze ,  at 
Toulouse  and  Luz  in  Southern  France.  His 
“Life  of  S.  Martin ”  was  very  popular  during 
the  Middle  Ages ,  as  also  were  his  “Two 
Dialogues formerly  divided  into  three.  His 
works  are  to  be  found  in  Migne,  “Patres 
Latini ,”  XX,  33-248. 


130 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  io 


fossessed  by  a  devil ;  and  this  was  done. 

or  he  was  at  once  possessed  and  had 
to  be  put  in  chains,  and  everything  had 
to  be  applied  to  him  which  is  customary 
in  the  case  of  demoniacs.  But  at  the 
end  of  the  fifth  month  he  was  im¬ 
mediately  delivered  both  from  all 
vainglory  and  from  the  dqvil.  But  we 
do  hot  read,  nor  is  it  for  the  present 
maintained,  that  for  this  reason  a  man 
can  be  possessed  by  a  devil  through 
the  witchcraft  of  another  man ;  al¬ 
though,  as  we  have  said,  the  judgements 
of  God  are  incomprehensible. 

For  the  second  reason,  when  someone 
is  possessed  because  of  the  light  sin  of 
another,  S.  Gregory  gives  an  example. 
The  Blessed  Abbot  Eleutherius,  a  most 
devout  man,  was  spending  the  night 
near  a  convent  of  virgins,  who  un¬ 
known  to  him  ordered  to  be  put  by 
his  cell  a  young  boy  who  used  to  be 
tormented  all  night  by  the  devil.  But 
on  that  same  night  the  boy  was 
delivered  from  the  devil  by  the  presence 
of  the  Father.  When  the  Abbot  learned 
of  this,  and  the  boy  now  being  placed 
in  the  holy  man’s  monastery,  after 
many  days  he  began  to  exult  rather 
immoderately  over  the  boy’s  liberation, 
and  said  to  his  brother  monks:  The 
devil  was  playing  his  pranks  with  those 
Sisters,  but  he  has  not  presumed  to 
approach  this  boy  since  he  came  to  the 
servants  of  God.  And  behold !  the 
devil  at  once  began  to  torment  the  boy. 
And  by  the  tears  and  fasting  of  the 
holy  man  and  his  brethren  he  was  with 
difficulty  delivered,  but  on  the  same 
day.  And  indeed  that  an  innocent 
person  should  be  possessed  for  the  slight 
fault  of  another  is  not  surprising  when 
men  are  possessed  by  devils  for  their 
own  light  fault,  or  for  another’s  heavy 
sin,  or  for  their  own  heavy  sin,  and  some 
also  at  the  instance  of  witches. 

Cassia,  in  his  First  Collation  of  the 
Abbot  Serenus,  gives  an  example  of 
how  one  Moses  was  possessed  for  his 
own  venial  sin.  This  Moses,  he  says, 
was  a  hermit  of  upright  and  pious  life ; 
but  because  on  one  occasion  he  en¬ 
gaged  in  a  dispute  with  the  Abbot 
Macharius,  and  went  a  little  too  far  in 
the  expression  of  a  certain  opinion,  he 
was  immediately  delivered  up  to  a 
terrible  devil,  who  caused  him  to  void 
his  natural  excrements  through  his 
mouth.  And  that  this  scourge  was 
inflicted  by  God  for  the  sake  of  purga¬ 
tion,  lest  any  stain  of  his  momentary 


fault  should  remain  in  him,  is  clear  from 
his  miraculous  cure.  For  by  continual 
prayers  and  submission  to  the  Abbot 
Macharius,  the  vile  spirit  was  quickly 
driven  away  and  departed  from  him. 

A  similar  case  is  that  related  by  S. 
Gregory  in  his  First  Dialogue  of  the 
nun  who  ate  a  lettuce  without  having 
first  made  the  sign  of  the  Cross,  ana 
was  set  free  by  the  Blessed  Father 
Equitius.* 

In  the  same  Dialogue  St.  Gregory  tells 
an  example  of  the  fourth  case,  where 
someone  is  possessed  because  of  the 
heavy  sin  of  another.  The  Blessed 
Bishop  Fortunatus  had  driven  the  devil 
from  a  possessed  man,  and  the  devil 
began  to  walk  about  the  streets  of  the 
city  in  the  guise  of  a  pilgrim,  crying 
out :  Oh,  the  holy  man  Bishop  Fortu¬ 
natus  !  See,  he  has  cast  me,  a  pilgrim, 
out  of  my  lodging,  and  I  can  find  no 
rest  anywhere.  Then  a  certain  man 
sitting  with  his  wife  and  son  invited 
the  pilgrim  to  lodge  with  him,  and 
asking  why  he  had  been  turned  out, 
was  delighted  with  the  derogatory 
story  of  the  holy  man  which  the  pil¬ 
grim  had  invented.  And  thereupon  the 
devil  entered  his  son,  and  cast  him 
upon  the  fire,  and  killed  him.  And 
then  for  the  first  time  did  the  unhappy 
father  understand  whom  he  had 
received  as  a  guest. 

And  fifthly,  we  read  many  examples 
of  men  being  possessed  for  their  own 
heavy  sin,  both  in  the  Holy  Scripture 
and  in  the  passions  of  the  Saints. 
For  in  I.  Kings  xv,  Saul  was  possessed 
for  disobedience  to  God.  And,  as  we 
have  said,  we  have  mentioned  all  these 
so  that  it  need  not  seem  to  anyone 
impossible  that  men  should  also  be 
possessed  because  of  the  crimes  of,  and 
at  the  instance  of,  witches.  And  we 
shall  be  able  to  understand  the  various 
methods  of  such  possession  by  quoting 
actual  examples. 

In  the  time  of  Pope  Pius  II  f  the 
following  was  the  experience  of  one  of 
us  two  Inquisitors  before  he  entered 
upon  his  office  in  the  Inquisition.  A 

*  “ Equitius .”  In  487  Equitius  was  Bishop 
of  Matelica,  a  diocese  now  joined  to  Fabriano. 
Only  one  other  Bishop  [Florentius)  of  the  ancient 
see  is  known. 

f  “Pius  II."  Enea  Silvio  de'  Piccolomini  was 
born  at  Corsignano,  near  Siena ,  18  October, 
1405;  and  elected  to  the  Chair  of  S.  Peter ,  19 
August,  1458.  He  died  at  Ancona ,  14  August, 
1464. 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  io  MALEFICARUM 


131 


certain  Bohemian  from  the  town  of 
Dachov  brought  his  only  son,  a  secular 
priest,  to  Rome  to  be  delivered,  be¬ 
cause  he  was  possessed.  It  happened 
that  I,  one  of  us  Inquisitors,  went  into 
a  refectory,  and  that  priest  and  his 
father  came  and  sat  down  at  the  same 
table  with  me.  We  saluted  each  other, 
and  talked  together,  as  is  customary; 
and  the  father  kept  sighing  and  praying 
Almighty  God  that  his  journey  might 
prove  to  have  been  successful.  I  felt 
great  pity  for  him,  and  began  to  ask 
what  was  the  reason  of  his  journey  and 
of  his  sorrow.  Then  he,  in  the  hearing 
of  his  son  who  was  sitting  next  to  me 
at  the  table,  answered:  “  Alas!  I-have 
a  son  possessed  by  a  devil,  and  with 
great  trouble  and  expense  I  have 
brought  him  here  to  be  delivered.” 
And  when  I  asked  where  the  son  was, 
he  showed  me  him  sitting  by  my  side. 

I  was  a  little  frightened,  and  looked  at 
him  closely;  and  because  he  took  his 
food  with  such  modesty,  and  answered 
piously  to  all  questions,  I  began  to 
doubt  that  he  was  not  possessed,  but 
that  some  infirmity  had  happened  to 
him.  Then  the  son  himself  told  what 
had  happened,  showing  how  and  for 
how  long  he  had  been  possessed,  and 
saying:  “A  certain  witch  brought  this 
evil  upon  me.  For  I  was  rebuking  her 
on  some  matter  concerned  with  the 
discipline  of  the  Church,  upbraiding 
her  rather  strongly  since  she  was  of  an 
obstinate  disposition,  when  she  said 
that  after  a  few  days  that  would  happen 
to  me  which  has  happened.  And  the 
♦  devil  which  possesses  me  has  told  me 
that  a  charm  was  placed  by  the  witch 
under  a  certain  tree,  and  that  until  it 
was  removed  I  could  not  be  delivered ; 
but  he  would  not  tell  me  which  was  the 
tree.”  But  I  would  not  in  the  least  have 
believed  his  words  if  he  had  not  at  once 
informed  me  of  the  facts  of  the  case. 
For  when  I  asked  him  about  the  length 
of  the  intervals  during  which  he  had 
the  use  of  his  reason  more  than  is  usual 
in  the  case  of  persons  possessed,  he 
answered :  “I  am  only  deprived  of  the 
use  of  my  reason  when  I  wish  to  con¬ 
template  holy  things  or  to  visit  sacred 
places.  For  the  devil  specifically  told 
me  in  his  own  words  uttered  through 
my  mouth  that,  because  he  had  up.  to 
that  time  been  much  offended  by  my 
sermons  to  the  people,  he  would  in  no 
way  allow  me  to  preach.”  For  accord¬ 
ing  to  his  father,  he  was  a  preacher 


full  of  grace,  and  loved  by  all.  But  I, 
the  Inquisitor,  wishing  for  proofs,  had 
him  taken  for  a  fortnight  and  more  to 
various  holy  places,  and  especially  to 
the  Church  of  S.  Praxedes  the  Virgin,* 
where  there  is  part  of  the  marble  pillar 
to  which  Our  Saviour  was  bound  when 
He  was  scourged,  and  to  the  place 
where  S.  Peter  the  Apostle  was  cruci¬ 
fied  ;  and  in  all  these  places  he  uttered 
horrible  cries  while  he  was  being 
exorcised,  now  saying  that  he  wished 
to  come  forth,  and  after  a  little  main¬ 
taining  the  contrary.  And  as  we  have 
said  before,  in  all  his  behaviour  he 
remained  a  sober  priest  without  any 
eccentricity,  except  during  the  process 
of  any  exorcisms ;  and  when  these  were 
finished,  and  the  stole  was  taken  from 
his  neck,  he  showed  no  sign  of  madness 
or  any  immoderate  action.  But  when 
he  passed  any  church,  and  genuflected 
in  honour  of  the  Glorious  Virgin,  the 
devil  made  him  thrust  his  tongue  far 
out  of  his  mouth;  and  when  he  was 
asked  whether  he  could  not  restrain 
himself  from  doing  this,  he  answered : 
“I  cannot  help  myself  at  all,  for  so 
he  uses  all  my  limbs  and  organs,  my 
neck,  my  tongue,  and  my  lungs,  when¬ 
ever  he  pleases,  causing  me  to  speak  or 


*  “S.  Praxedes .”  Praxedes  and  Pudentiana 
were  the  daughters  of  the  Senator  Pudens ,  a  pupil 
of  S.  Peter.  There  was  an  old  title-church  of 
Rome ,  “ titulus  Pudentis ,”  called  also  the 
“ ecclesia  Pudentiana.”  The  two  female  figures 
in  the  mosaic  of  the  apse  of  S.  Pudenziana ,  via 
Urbana ,  are  Pudentiana  and  Praxedes.  In  the 
fourth  century  a  new  church ,  “ titulus  Praxedis 
was  built  near  Santa  Maria  Maggiore,  and 
when  Paschal  I  in  822  rebuilt  the  church  in  its 
present  form  ( the  basilica  and  title-church  S. 
Prassede  alV  Esquilino )  he  translated  to  it  the 
bodies  of  S.  Praxedes ,  S.  Pudentiana ,  and  of 
many  other  martyrs.  Under  the  High  Altar  are 
the  chief  Relics  of  the  Saints.  In  the  Chapel  of 
S.  Zeno,  which  dates  from  the  ninth  century ,  is 
the  Holy  Pillar  of  the  Scourging  brought  in  1223 
from  Jerusalem  by  Cardinal  Giovanni  Colonna. 
Another  portion  of  the  Holy  Pillar  is  preserved  in 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem, 
where  it  is  publicly  venerated  each  year  on  Easter 
Eve.  S.  Prassede  is  one  of  the  richest  churches  in 
Rome  in  Relics.  It  contains  the  Bodies  of  S.  Zoe> 
S.  Feldian,  S.  Candid,  S.  Basil,  S.  Celestine  I, 
S.  Nicomedius;  important  Relics  of  S.  Matthew, 
S.  Luke,  S.  Bartholomew,  S.  Philip,  S.  Andrew, 
S.  Peter,  S.  Paul,  and  S.  John  Baptist;  some  of 
the  garments  of  Our  Lady;  a  piece  of  the  seam¬ 
less  robe  of  Our  Lord;  three  Thorns  from  the 
Crown  of  Thorns;  and  four  fragments  of  wood 
from  the  True  Cross. 


132 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  io 


to  cry  out ;  and  I  hear  the  words  as  if 
they  were  spoken  by  myself,  but  I  am 
altogether  unable  to  restrain  them ; 
and  when  I  try  to  engage  in  prayer  he 
attacks  me  more  violently,  thrusting 
out  my  tongue.”  And  there  was  in  the 
Church  of  S.  Peter  a  column  brought 
from  Solomon’s  Temple,  by  virtue  of 
which  many  who  are  obsessed  with 
devils  are  liberated,  because  Christ  had 
stood  near  it  when  He  preached  in  the 
Temple ;  but  even  here  he  could  not  be 
delivered,  owing  to  the  hidden  purpose 
of  God  which  reserved  another  method 
for  his  liberation.  For  though  he  re¬ 
mained  shut  in  by  the  column  for  a 
whole  day  and  night,  yet  on  the  follow¬ 
ing  day,  after  various  exorcisms  had 
been  performed  upon  him,  with  a  great 
concourse  of  people  standing  round,  he 
was  asked  by  which  part  of  the  column 
Christ  had  stood ;  and  he  bit  the 
column  with  his  teeth,  and,  crying  out, 
showed  the  place,  saying:  “Here  He 
stood !  Here  He  stood !”  And  at  last 
he  said,  “I  will  not  go  forth.”  And 
when  he  was  asked  why,  he  answered, 
Because  of  the  Lombards.  And  being 
asked  why  he  would  not  go  forth 
because  of  the  Lombards,  he  answered 
in  the  Italian  tongue  (although  the 
poor  priest  did  not  understand  that 
language),  They  all  practise  such  and 
such  things,  naming  the  worst  vice  of 
lustfulness.  And  afterwards  the  priest 
asked  me,  saying,  “Father,  what  did 
those  Italian  words  mean  which  came 
from  my  mouth?”  And  when  I  told 
him,  he  answered,  “I  heard  the  words, 
but  I  could  not  understand  them.” 
Eventually  it  proved  that  this  demoniac 
was  of  that  sort  of  which  the  Saviour 
spoke  in  the  Gospel,  saying:  This  sort 
goeth  not  out  save  by  prayer  and 
fasting.  For  a  venerable  Bishop,  who 
had  been  driven  from  his  see  by  the 
Turks,  piously  took  compassion  on 
him,  and  by  fasting  on  bread  and  water 
for  forty  days,  and  by  prayers  and 
exorcisms,  at  last  through  the  grace  of 
God  delivered  him  and  sent  him  back 
to  his  home  rejoicing. 

Now  it  would  be  a  miracle  if  anyone 
in  this  life  could  thoroughly  explain 
in  what  and  in  how  many  ways  the 
devil  possesses  or  injures  men :  yet  we 
can  say  that,  leaving  out  of  account  his 
method  of  injuring  men  in  their 
temporal  fortunes,  there  are  five  ways. 
For  some  are  affected  only  in  their  own 
bodies ;  some  both  in  their  bodies  and 


in  their  inner  perceptions;  some  only 
in  their  inner  perceptions ;  some  are  so 
punished  as  to  be  at  times  only  de¬ 
prived  of  their  reason;  and  others  are 
turned  into  the  semblance  of  irrational 
beasts.  Now  the  priest  we  have  just 
mentioned  was  possessed  in  the  fourth 
manner.  For  he  was  not  touched  in  his 
worldly  fortunes  or  in  his  own  body,  as 
it  happened  to  the  Blessed  Job,  over 
whom  the  Scripture  clearly  tells  us  that 
God  gave  the  devil  power,  saying  to 
Satan :  Behold,  all  that  he  hath  is  in  thy 
power ;  only  upon  himself  put  not  forth 
thine  hand.  And  this  refers  to  exterior 
things.  But  afterwards  He  gave  him 
power  over  his  body,  saying:  Behold, 
he  is  in  thine  hand ;  but  save  his  life. 

And  it  can  also  be  said  that  Job  was 
tormented  in  the  third  manner,  that  is, 
in  the  inner  perceptions  of  his  soul  as 
well  as  his  body ;  for  it  is  said  in 
Job  xii :  If  it  is  said  to  the  Lord,  My 
bed  will  console  me,  and  I  will  take 
comfort  to  myself  on  my  couch,  then 
Thou  wilt  terrify  me  with  dreams,  and 
shake  me  with  the  horror  of  visions : 
though  these  dreams  were  caused  by 
the  devil,  according  to  Nicolas  of 
Lyra*  and  S.  Thomas :  Thou  wilt 
terrify  me  with  dreams,  which  appear 
to  me  in  sleep,  and  with  visions  which 
come  to  me  waking  by  a  distortion  of 
my  inner  perceptions.  For  the  phan¬ 
tasms  which  occur  to  the  thoughts  in 
the  day-time  can  become  the  terror  of 
sleepers,  and  such  were  visited  upon 
Job  through  the  infirmity  of  his  body. 
Therefore  he  was  so  shut  off  from  all 
comfort  that  he  saw  no  remedy  or  way 
of  escaping  from  his  misery  except  in 
death,  and  said  that  he  was  shaken  with 
horror.  And  no  one  doubts  that 
witches  can  injure  men  in  these  ways 
through  devils,  as  will  be  shown  in  what 
follows,  how  they  bring  injuries  upon 
the  fortunes  of  men  and  upon  the 
bodies  of  men  and  animals  by  means  of 
hailstorms. 

And  there  is  a  third  way  of  injuring 
the  body  and  the  inner  perceptions, 
without  taking  away  the  reason,  which 

*  “  Nicolas  of  Lyra  ”  “ Doctor  planus  et 
utilis ,”  the  famous  exegete,  was  born  at  Lyra  in 
Normandy ,  12J0;  and  died  at  Paris,  1340.  He 
is  the  author  of  numerous  theological  works,  by 
far  the  most  famous  of  which  is  his  monumental 
“ Postillae  perpetuae  in  uniuersam  S.  Scrip¬ 
turam,”  which  was  so  popular  that  it  gained  the 
distinction  of  being  the  first  biblical  commentary 
to  be  printed. 


133 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  io  MALEFICARUM 


is  shown  when  witches,  as  has  been  said, 
so  inflame  the  minds  of  men  with 
unlawful  lust  that  they  are  compelled 
to  travel  long  distances  in  the  night  to 
go  to  their  mistresses,  being  too  fast 
bound  in  the  net  of  carnal  desire.  * 

We  may  mention  an  example  which 
is  said  to  have  happened  in  Hesse,  in 
the  diocese  of  Marburg.  A  certain  priest 
was  possessed,  and  during  an  exorcism 
the  devil  was  asked  for  how  long  he  had 
inhabited  that  priest.  He  answered, 
For  seven  years.  And  when  the 
exorcist  objected,  But  you  have  tor¬ 
mented  him  for  hardly  three  years; 
where  were  you  for  the  rest  of  the 
time?  He  answered,  I  was  hiding  in 
his  body.  And  when  he  asked  in  what 
part  of  the  body,  he  answered,  Gener¬ 
ally  in  his  head.  And  when  he  was  again 
asked  where  he  was  when  the  priest 
was  celebrating  the  Sacrament,  he 
said,  I  hid  myself  under  his  tongue. 
And  the  other  said:  Wretch!  How 
were  you  so  bold  as  not  to  flee  from  the 
presence  of  your  Creator?  Then  the 
devil  said:  Anyone  may  hide  under  a 
bridge  while  a  holy  man  is  Crossing,  as 
long  as  he  does  not  pause  in  his  walk. 
But  with  the  help  of  Divine  grace  the 
priest  was  delivered,  whether  he  told 
the  truth  or  not;  for  both  he  and  his 
father  are  liars. 

The  fourth  method  applies  to  the  case 
of  the  priest  who  was  liberated  in 
Rome,  under  the  proposition  that  the 
devil  can  enter  the  body,  but  not  the 
soul,  which  only  God  can  enter.  But 
when  I  say  that  the  devil  can  enter  the 
body,  I  do  not  mean  that  he  can  occupy 
the  essential  limits  of  the  body. 

I  will  explain  this  further;  and  in 
doing  so  it  will  be  shown  how  devils 
sometimes  substantially  occupy  a  man, 
and  at  times  deprive  him  of  his  reason. 
For  we  may  say  that  the  limits  of  the 
body  can  be  considered  in  two  ways : 
they  may  be  physical  or  essential  limits. 
Whenever  any  Angel,  good  or  bad, 
works  within  the  physical  limits  of  the 
body,  he  enters  the  body  in  such  a  way 
as  to  influence  its  physical  capacities. 
And  in  this  way  the  good  Angels  cause 
imaginary  visions  in  the  good.  But 
they  are  never  said  to  enter  into  the 
essence  of  the  body,  since  they  cannot 
do  so,  either  as  a  part  of  it  or  as  a 
quality  of  it.  Not  as  a  part,  for  the 
angelic  and  the  human  essence  are 
entirely  different  from  each  other ; 
and  not  as  a  quality,  as  if  giving  it  its 


character,  for  it  has  its  character  by 
creation  from  God.  Wherefore  He 
alone  is  able  to  influence  its  inner 
essence,  and  to  preserve  it  when  He  is 
pleased  in  His  mercy  to  preserve  it. 

So  we  conclude  that,  speaking  of  all 
other  perfections  in  the  good  or  defects 
in  the  wicked,  when  these  are  caused 
by  a  spirit  operating  in  the  head  and  its 
attributes,  such  a  spirit  enters  into  the 
head  within  the  physical  limits  of  the 
physical  capacities  of  the  body. 

But  if  the  spirit  is  working  upon  the 
soul,  then  again  it  works  from  the  out¬ 
side,  but  in  various  ways.  And  they 
are  said  to  work  on  the  soul  when  they 
represent  phantasms  or  shapes  to  the 
intellect,  and  not  only  to  the  common 
understanding  and  the  outer  percep¬ 
tions.  And  when  bad  Angels  so  operate, 
there  follow  temptations  and  evil 
thoughts  and  affections,  caused  by  an 
indirect  influence  upon  the  intellect. 
But  good  Angels  cause  phantasms  of 
revelation  which  enlighten  the  under¬ 
standing.  And  there  is  this  difference 
between  them;  that  good  Angels  can 
even  directly  impress  enlightening 
fancies  upon  the  intellect ;  but  bad 
Angels  are  said  not  to  enlighten  but 
rather  to  darken  by  means  of  their 
phantasms,  and  they  cannot  influence 
the  intellect  directly,  but  only  in¬ 
directly,  in  so  far  as  the  intellect  is 
bound  to  take  such  phantasms  into 
consideration. 

But  even  a  good  Angel  is  not  said  to 
enter  into  the  soul,  although  he  en¬ 
lightens  it:  similarly  a  superior  Angel 
is  not  said  to  enter  into  an  inferior, 
although  he  enlightens  it ;  but  he 
works  only  from  the  outside,  and  co¬ 
operates  in  the  way  we  have  said. 
Therefore  far  less  can  a  bad  Angel  enter 
the  soul. 

And  so  the  devil  occupied  the  body 
of  the  priest  in  three  ways.  First,  as  he 
could  enter  his  body  within  its  physical 
limits,  so  he  occupied  his  head  by 
substantially  inhabiting  it.  Secondly, 
he  could  extrinsically  work  upon  his 
soul  so  as  to  darken  his  understanding 
and  deprive  him  of  the  use  of  his 
reason.  And  he  could  have  so  tor¬ 
mented  him  without  any  intermission 
or  respite;  but  we  may  say  that  the 
priest  had  this  gift  from  God,  that  he 
should  not  be  tormented  by  the  devil 
without  intermission.  Thirdly,  that 
although  he  was  deprived  of  the  power 
of  the  sane  use  of  words,  yet  he  was 


/ 


134 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  ii 


always  conscious  of  his  words,  though 
not  of  their  meaning.  And  this  differs 
from  the  other  methods  of  obsession, 
for  we  generally  read  that  those  who 
are  possessed  are  afflicted  by  devils 
without  intermission;  as  is  clear  in  the 
case  of  the  lunatic  in  the  Gospel,  whose 
father  said  to  Jesus :  Lord,  have  mercy 
on  my  son,  for  he  is  lunatic,  and  sore 
vexed  ( S .  Matthew  xvii) ;  and  of  the 
woman  whom  Satan  had  crippled  for 
eighteen  years,  who  was  bowed  to¬ 
gether  and  could  in  no  wise  lift  herself 
up  (S.  Luke  xiii).  And  in  these  ways 
devils  can  without  doubt  at  the  in¬ 
stance  of  witches  and  with  God’s 
permission  inflict  torments. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  XI 

Of  the  Method  by  which  they  can  Inflict 
Every  Sort  of  Infirmity ,  generally  Ills  of 
the  Graver  Kind. 

BUT  there  is  no  bodily  infirmity,  not 
even  leprosy  or  epilepsy,  which  can¬ 
not  be  caused  by  witches,  with  God’s 
permission.  And  this  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  no  sort  of  infirmity  is  ex¬ 
cepted  by  the  Doctors.  For  a  careful 
consideration  of  what  has  already  been 
written  concerning  the  power  of  devils 
and  the  wickedness  of  witches  will  show 
that  this  statement  offers  no  difficulty. 
Nider  also  deals  with  this  subject  both 
in  his  Book  of  Precepts *  and  in  his 
Formicarius ,  where  he  asks :  Whether 
witches  can  actually  injure  men  by  their 
witchcraft.  And  the  question  makes  no 
exception  of  any  infirmity,  however 
incurable.  And  he  there  answers  that 
they  can  do  so,  and  proceeds  to  ask  in 
what  way  and  by  what  means. 

And  as  to  the  first,  he  answers,  as  has 
been  shown  in  the  First  Question  of  the 
First  Part  of  this  treatise.  And  it  is 
proved  also  by  S.  Isidore  where  he 
describes  the  operations  of  witches 
{Etym.  8,  cap.  9),  and  says  that  they  are 
called  witches  on  account  of  the 
magnitude  of  their  crimes;  for  they 
disturb  the  elements  by  raising  up 
storms  with  the  help  of  devils,  they 
confuse  the  minds  of  men  fn  the  ways 
already  mentioned,  by  either  entirely 
obstructing  or  gravely  impeding  the 

*  “ Book  of  Precepts .”  “ Praeceptorum  diuinae 
legis  Liber,”  of  which  there  were  seventeen  editions 
before  1500.  I  have  used  that  of  Douai,  1612. 


use  of  their  reason.  He  adds  also  that, 
without  the  use  of  any  poison,  but  by/ 
the  mere  virulence  of  their  incantations,! 
they  can  deprive  men  of  their  lives. 

It  is  proved  also  by  S.  Thomas  in  the 
Second  Book  of  Sentences ,  dist.  7  and  8, 
and  in  Book  IV,  dist.  34,  and  in  general 
all  the  Theologians  write  that  witches 
can  with  the  help  of  the  devil  bring 
harm  upon  men  and  their  affairs  in  all 
the  ways  in  which  the  devil  alone  can 
injure  or  deceive,  namely,  in  their 
affairs,  their  reputation,  their  body, 
their  reason,  and  their  life ;  which 
means  that  those  injuries  which  are 
caused  by  the  devil  without  any  witch, 
can  also  be  caused  by  a  witch;  and 
even  more  readily  so,  on  account  of  the 
greater  offence  which  is  given  to  the 
Divine  Majesty,  as  has  been  shown 
above. 

In  Job  i  and  ii  is  found  a  clear  case 
of  the  injury  in  temporal  affairs.  The 
injury  to  reputation  is  shown  in  the 
history  of  the  Blessed  Jerome,  that  the 
devil  transformed  himself  into  the 
appearance  of  S.  Silvanus,  Bishop  of 
Nazareth,  a  friend  of  S.  Jerome.  And 
this  devil  approached  a  noble  woman 
by  night  in  her  bed  and  began  first  to 
provoke  and  entice  her  with  lewd 
words,  and  then  invited  her  to  per¬ 
form  the  sinful  act.  And  when  she 
called  out,  the  devil  in  the  form  of  the 
saintly  Bishop  hid  under  the  woman’s 
bed,  and  being  sought  for  and  found 
there,  he  in  lickerish  language  de¬ 
clared  lyingly  that  he  was  the  Bishop 
Silvanus.  On  the  morrow  therefore, 
when  the  devil  had  disappeared,  the  holy 
man  was  scandalously  defamed ;  but  his 
good  name  was  cleared  when  the  devil 
confessed  at  the  tomb  of  S.  Jerome  that 
he  had  done  this  in  an  assumed  body. 

The  injury  to  the  body  is  shown  in 
the  case  of  the  Blessed  Job,  who  was 
stricken  by  the  devil  with  terrible  sores, 
which  are  explained  as  a  form  of 
leprosy.  And  Sigisbertf  and  Vincent 

f  “ Sigisbert Sigebert  of  Gembloux,  the 
celebrated  Benedictine  historian,  was  born  at 
Gembloux  ( pr .  Namur)  about  1035,  and  died  at 
the  same  place,  5  November,  1112.  He  was  a 
prolific  author,  and  his  most  famous  work , 
“ Chronicon  siue  Chronographia,”  is  the  basis  of 
many  other  histories.  It  has  frequently  been 
reprinted.  The  works  of  Sigebert  may  be  con¬ 
veniently  found  in  Migne,  “ Patres  Latini 
CLX.  There  is  a  study  by  Hirsch ,  “De  uita 
et  scriptis  Sigeberti  Monachi  Gemblacensis 
Berlin ,  1841. 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  u 


MALEFICARUM 


135 


of  Beauvais  (Spec.  Hist.  XXV.  37)  both 
tell  that  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor 
Louis  II,*  in  the  diocese  of  Mainz,  a 
certain  devil  began  to  throw  stones  and 
to  beat  at  the  houses  as  if  with  a 
hammer.  And  then  by  public  state¬ 
ments,  and  secret  insinuations,  he 
spread  discord  and  troubled  the  minds 
of  many.  Then  he  excited  the  anger 
of  all  against  one  man,  whose  lodging, 
wherever  he  was  resting,  he  set  on  fire, 
and  said  that  they  were  all  suffering 
for  his  sins.  So  at  last  that  man  had  to 
find  his  lodging  in  the  fields.  And 
when  the  priests  were  saying  a  litany 
on  this  account,  the  devil  stoned  many 
of  the  people  with  stones  till  he  hurt 
them  to  bleeding;  and  sometimes  he 
would  desist,  and  sometimes  rage; 
and  this  continued  for  three  years,  until 
all  the  houses  there  were  burned  down. 

Examples  of  the  injury  to  the  use  of 
the  reason,  and  of  the  tormenting  of 
the  inner  perceptions,  are  seen  in  those 
possessed  and  frenzied  men  of  whom 
the  Gospels  tell.  And  as  for  death,  and 
that  they  deprive  some  of  their  lives,  it 
is  proved  in  Tobias  vi,  in  the  case  of  the 
seven  husbands  of  the  virgin  Sara,  who 
were  killed  because  of  their  lecherous 
lust  and  unbridled  desire  for  the 
virgin  Sara,  of  whom  they  were  not 
worthy  to  be  the  husbands.  Therefore 
it  is  concluded  that  both  by  themselves, 
and  all  the  more  with  the  help  of 
witches,  devils  can  injure  men  in 
every  way  without  exception. 

But  if  it  is  asked  whether  injuries  of 
this  sort  are  to  be  ascribed  rather  to 
devils  than  to  witches,  it  is  answered 
that,  when  the  devils  cause  injuries  by 
their  own  direct  action,  then  they  are 
principally  to  be  ascribed  to  them.  But 
when  they  work  through  the  agency  of 
witches  for  the  disparagement  and 
offending  of  God  ana  the  perdition  of 
souls,  knowing  that  by  this  means 
God  is  made  more  angry  and  allows 
them  greater  power  of  doing  evil ; 
and  because  they  do  indeed  perpetrate 
countless  witchcrafts  which  the  devil 
would  not  be  allowed  to  bring  upon 
men  if  he  wished  to  injure  men  alone 
by  himself,  but  are  permitted,  in  the 
just  and  hidden  purpose  of  God, 
through  the  agency  of  witches,  on 


*  “ Louis  II.”  Son  of  Lothaire  /,  was  born 
about  822.  He  became  associated  with  his  father 
in  the  Empire  in  849,  and  succeeded  to  the  Imperial 
Crown  in  855.  He  died  in  875. 


account  of  their  perfidy  and  abjuration 
of  the  Catholic  Faith ;  therefore  such 
injuries  are  justly  ascribed  to  witches 
secondarily,  however  much  the  devil 
may  be  the  principal  actor. 

Therefore  when  a  woman  dips  a  twig  j 
in  water  and  sprinkles  the  water  in  the 
air  to  make  it  rain,  although  she  does! 
not  herself  cause  the  rain,  and  could 
not  be  blamed  on  that  account,  yet,  1 
because  she  has  entered  into  a  pact 
with  the  devil  by  which  she  can  do  this 
as  a  witch,  although  it  is  the  devil  who 
causes  the  rain,  she  herself  nevertheless 
deservedly  bears  the  blame,  because 
she  is  an  infidel  and  does  the  devil’s  | 
work,  surrendering  herself  to  his  service,  f 

So  also  when  a  witch  makes  a  waxen  | 
image  or  some  such  thing  in  order  to; 
bewitch  somebody ;  or  when  an  image? 
of  someone  appears  by  pouring  moltep 
lead  into  water,  and  some  injury  is’ 
done  upon  the  image,  such  as  piercing; 
it  or  hurting  it  in  any  other  way,  when: 
it  is-  the  bewitched  man  who  is  in: 
imagination  being  so  hurt;  although 
the  injury  is  actually  done  to  the  image 
by  the  witch  or  some  other  man,  and 
the  devil  in  the  same  manner  invisibly  1 
injures  the  bewitched  man,  yet  it  is 
deservedly  ascribed  to  the  witch.  For, 
without  her,  God  would  never  allow 
the  devil  to  inflict  the  injury,  nor  would 
the  devil  on  his  own  account  try  to 
injure  the  man. 

But  because  it  has  been  said  that  in 
the  matter  of  their  good  name  the 
devils  can  injure  men  on  their  own 
account  and  without  the  co-operation 
of  witches,  there  may  arise  a  doubt 
whether  the  devils  cannot  also  defame 
honest  women  so  that  they  are  reputed 
to  be  witches,  when  they  appear  in 
their  likeness  to  bewitch  someone ;  from 
which  it  would  happen  that  such  a 
woman  would  be  defamed  without 
cause. 

In  answering  this  we  must  premise 
a  few  remarks.  First,  it  has  been  said 
that  the  devil  can  do  nothing  without 
the  Divine  permission,  as  is  shown  in  the 
First  Part  of  this  work  in  the  last 
Question.  It  has  also  been  shown  that 
God  does  not  allow  so  great  power  of 
evil  against  the  just  and  those  who  live 
in  grace,  as  against  sinners;  and  as 
the  devils  have  more  power  against 
sinners  (see  the  text:  When  a  strong 
manf  armed,  etc.),  so  they  are  per- 


f  “ Strong  Man.”  “ S .  Luke ”  xi,  21. 


136 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  1.  Ch.  11 


mitted  by  God  to  afflict  them  more 
than  the  just.  Finally,  although  they 
can,  with  God’s  permission,'  injure  the 
just  in  their  affairs,  their  reputation, 
and  their  bodily  health,  yet,  because 
they  know  that  this  power  is  granted 
them  chiefly  for  the  increase  of  the 
merits  of  the  just,  they  are  the  less 
eager  to  injure  them. 

Therefore  it  can  be  said  that  in  this 
difficulty  there  are  several  points  to  be 
considered.  First,  the  Divine  permis¬ 
sion.  Secondly,  the  man  who  is  thought 
to  be  righteous,  for  they  who  are  so 
reputed  are  not  always  actually  in  a 
state  of  grace.  Thirdly,  the  crime  of 
which  an  innocent  man  would  be 
suspected;  for  that  crime  in  its  very 
origin  exceeds  all  the  crimes  of  the 
world.  Therefore  it  is  to  be  said  that 
it  is  granted  that,  with  God’s  permission, 
an  innocent  person,  whether  or  not 
he  is  in  a  state  of  grace,  may  be  in¬ 
jured  in  his  affairs  or  reputation;  but, 
having  respect  to  this  particular  crime 
and  the  gravity  of  the  accusation  (for 
we  have  often  quoted  S.  Isidore’s  saying 
that  they  are  called  witches  from  the 
magnitude  of  their  crimes),  it  can  be 
said  that  for  an  innocent  person  to  be 
defamed  by  the  devil  in  the  way  that 
has  been  suggested  does  not  seem  at  all 
possible,  for  many  reasons. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  one  thing  to  be 
defamed  in  respect  of  vices  which  are 
committed  without  any  expressed  or 
tacit  contract  with  the  devil,  such  as 
theft,  robbery,  or  fornication ;  but  quite 
another  matter  to  be  defamed  in 
respect  of  vices  which  it  is  impossible 
to  accuse  a  man  of  having  perpetrated 
unless  he  has  entered  upon  an  ex¬ 
pressed  contract  with  the  devil;  and 
such  are  the  works  of  witches,  which 
cannot  be  laid  at  their  door  unless  it  is 
by  the  power  of  devils  that  they  be¬ 
witch  men,  animals  and  the  fruits  of  the 
earth.  Therefore,  although  the  devil 
can  blacken  men’s  reputations  in 
respect  of  other  vices,  yet  it  does  not 
seem  possible  for  him  to  do  so  in 
respect  of  this  vice  which  cannot  be 
perpetrated  without  his  co-operation. 

Besides,  it  has  never  hitherto  been 
(  {  1 1  known  to  have  happened  that  an  inno¬ 
cent  person  has  been  defamed  by  the 
devil  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was 
condemned  to  death  for  this  particular 
crime.  Furthermore,  when  a  person  is 
only  under  suspicion,  he  suffers  no 
punishment  except  that  which  the 


Canon  prescribes  for  his  purgation,  as 
will  be  shown  in  the  Third  Part  of  this 
work  in  the  second  method  of  sen¬ 
tencing  witches. 

And  it  is  set  down  there  that,  if  such 
a  man  fails  in  his  purgation,  he  is  to  be 
considered  guilty,  but  that  he  should 
be  solemnly  adjured  before  the  punish-  , 
ment  due  to  his  sin  is  proceeded  with 
and  enforced.  But  here  we  are  dealing 
with  actual  events;  and  it  has  never 
yet  been  known  that  an  innocent  person 
has  been  punished  on  suspicion  of 
witchcraft,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
God  will  never  permit  such  a  thing  tojj 
happen.  i 

Besides,  He  does  not  suffer  the 
innocent  who  are  under  Angelic  pro¬ 
tection  to  be  suspected  of  smaller  / 
crimes,  such  as  robbery  and  such  things ; 
then  all  the  more  will  He  preserve  those 
who  are  under  that  protection  from 
suspicion  of  the  crime  of  witchcraft. 

And  it  is  no  valid  objection  to  quote 
the  legend *of  S.  Germanus,  when  devils 
assumed  the  bodies  of  other  women  and 
sat  down  at  tableland  slept  with  the 
husbands,  deluding  the  latter  into  the 
belief  that  those  women  were  in  their 
own  bodies  eating  and  drinking  with 
them,  as  we  have  mentioned  before. 
For  the  women  in  this  case  are  not  to 
be  held  guiltless.  For  in  the  Canon 
(Episcopi  26,  q.  2)  such  women  are  con¬ 
demned  for  thinking  that  they  are 
really  and  actually  transported,  when 
they  are  so  only  in  imagination ; 
although,  as  we  have  shown  above,  they 
are  at  times  bodily  transported  by 
devils. 

But  our  present  proposition  is  that 
they  can,  with  God’s  permission,  cause 
all  other  infirmities,  with  no  exception; 
and  it  is  to  be  concluded  from  what  we 
have  said  that  this  is  so.  Fo  no  excep¬ 
tion  is  made  by  the  Doctors,  and  there 
is  no  reason  why  there  should  be  any, 
since,  as  we  have  often  said,  the  natural 
power  of  devils  is  superior  to  all  cor¬ 
poreal  power.  And  we  have  found  in 
our  experience  that  this  is  true.  For 
although  greater  difficulty  may  be  felt 
in  believing  that  witches  are  able  to 
cause  leprosy  or  epilepsy,  since  these 
diseases  generally  arise  from  some  long¬ 
standing  physical  predisposition  or  de¬ 
fect,  none  the  less  it  has  sometimes  been 
found  that  even  these  have  been  caused 
by  witchcraft.  For  in  the  diocese  of 
Basel,  in  the  district  of  Alsace  and 
Lorraine,  a  certain  honest  labourer 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  12  MALEFICARUM 


137 


f  spoke  roughly  to  a  certain  quarrel- 
I  some  woman,  and  she  angrily  threat¬ 
ened  him  that  she  would  soon  avenge 
herself  on  him.  He  took  little  notice 
of  her ;  but  on  the  same  night  he  felt 
a  pustule  grow  upon  his  neck,  and  he 
rubbed  it  a  little,  and  found  his  whole 
face  and  neck  puffed  up  and  swollen, 
and  a  horrible  form  of  leprosy  appeared 
all  over  his  body.  He  immediately  went 
to  his  friends  for  advice,  and  told  them 
of  the  woman’s  threat,  and  said  that  he 
would  stake  his  life  on  the  suspicion 
that  this  had  been  done  to  him  by  the 
magic  art  of  that  same  witch.  In  short, 
the  woman  was  taken,  questioned,  and 
confessed  her  crime.  But  when  the 
judge  asked  her  particularly  about  the 
i  reason  for  it,  and  how  she  had  done  it, 
!she  answered:  “When  that  man  used 
abusive  words  to  me,  I  was  angry  and 
went  home ;  and  my  familiar  began  to 
ask  the  reason  for  my  ill  humour.  I 
told  him,  and  begged  him  to  avenge 
me  on  the  man.  And  he  asked  what  I 
wanted  him  to  do  to  him;  and  I 
answered  that  I  wished  he  would  always 
have  a  swollen  face.  And  the  devil  went 
away  and  afflicted  the  man  even 
beyond  my  asking ;  for  I  had  not  hoped 
that  he  would  infect  him  with  such 
sore  leprosy.”  And  so  the  woman  was 
burned. 

And  in  the  diocese  of  Constance,  be¬ 
tween  Breisach  and  Freiburg,  there  is  a 
leprous  woman  (unless  she  has  paid 
the  debt  of  all  flesh  within  these  two 
years)  who  used  to  tell  to  many  people 
how  the  same  thing  had  happened  to 
her  by  reason  of  a  similar  quarrel  which 
took  place  between  her  and  another 
woman.  For  one  night  when  she  went 
out  of  the  house  to  do  something  in 
front  of  the  door,  a  warm  wind  came 
from  the  house  of  the  other  woman, 
which  was  opposite,  and  suddenly 
struck  her  face;  and  from  that  time 
she  had  been  afflicted  with  the  leprosy 
which  she  now  suffered. 

And  lastly,  in  the  same  diocese,  in 
the  territory  of  the  Black  Forest,  a 
witch  was  being  lifted  by  a  gaoler  on 
to  the  pile  of  wood  prepared  for  her 
burning,  and  said :  “I  will  pay  you” ; 
and  blew  into  his  face.  And  he  was  at 
once  afflicted  with  a  horrible  leprosy 
all  over  his  body,  and  did  not  survive 
many  days.  For  the  sake  of  brevity,  the 
fearful  crimes  of  this  witch,  and  many 
more  instances  which  could  be  re¬ 
counted,  are  omitted.  For  we  have 


often  found  that  certain  people  have 
been  visited  with  epilepsy  or  the  falling 
sickness  by  means  of  eggs  which  have 
been  buried  with  dead  bodies,  especially 
the  dead  bodies  of  witches,  together 
with  other  ceremonies  of  which  we  can¬ 
not  speak,  particularly  when  these  eggs 
have  been  given  to  a  person  either  in 
food  or  drink. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  XII 

Of  the  Way  how  in  Particular  they  Afflict 
Men  with  Other  Like  Infirmities. 

BUT  who  can  reckon  the  number  of 
the  other  infirmities  which  they 
have  inflicted  upon  men,  such  as  blind¬ 
ness,  the  sharpest  pains,  and  contor¬ 
tions  of  the  body?  Yet  we  shall  set  down 
a  few  examples  which  we  have  seen  with 
our  eyes,  or  have  been  related  to  one  of 
us  Inquisitors. 

When  an  inquisition  was  being  held  on 
some  witches  in  the  town  of  Innsbruck, 
the  following  case,  among  others,  was 
brought  to  light.  A  certain  honest 
woman  who  had  been  legally  married 
to  one  of  the  household  of  the  Archduke 
formally  deposed  the  following.  In  the 
time  of  her  maidenhood  she  had  been 
in  the  service  of  one  of  the  citizens, 
whose  wife  became  afflicted  with 
grievous  pains  in  the  head ;  and  a  woman 
came  who  said  she  could  cure  her,  and 
so  began  certain  incantations  and  rites 
which  she  said  would  assuage  the  pains. 
And  I  carefully  watched  (said  this 
woman)  what  she  did,  and  saw  that, 
against  the  nature  of  water  poured  into 
a  vase,  she  caused  water  to  rise  in  its 
vessel,  together  with  other  ceremonies 
which  there  is  no  need  to  mention. 
And  considering  that  the  pains  in  my 
mistress’s  head  were  not  assuaged  by 
these  means,  I  addressed  the  witch  in 
some  indignation  with  these  words :  “I 
do  not  know  what  you  are  doing,  but 
whatever  it  is,  it  is  witchcraft,  and 
you  are  doing  it  for  your  own  profit.” 
Then  the  witch  at  once  replied:  “You 
will  know  in  three  days  whether  I  am  a 
witch  or  not.”  And  so  it  proved;  for 
on  the  third  day  when  I  sat  down  and 
took  up  a  spindle,  I  suddenly  felt  a 
terrible  pain  in  my  body.  First  it  was 
inside  me,  so  that  it  seemed  that  there 
was  no  part  of  my  body  in  which  I  did 
not  feel  horrible  shooting  pains;  then 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  12 


«A 

w 


138 


it  seemed  to  me  just  as  if  burning  coals 
were  being  continually  heaped  upon 
my  head;  thirdly,  from  the  crown  of 
my  head  to  the  soles  of  my  feet  there 
was  no  place  large  enough  for  a  pin¬ 
prick  that  was  not  covered  with  a  rash 
of  white  pustules ;  and  so  I  remained 
in  these  pains,  crying  out  and  wishing 
only  for  death,  until  the  fourth  day. 
At  last  my  mistress’s  husband  told  me 
to  go  to  a  certain  tavern;  and  with 
great  difficulty  I  went,  whilst  he 
walked  before,  until  we  were  in  front 
of  the  tavern.  “See!”  he  said  to  me; 
“there  is  a  loaf  of  white  bread  over  the 
tavern  door.”  “I  see,”  said  I.  Then 
he  said :  “Take  it  down,  if  you  possibly 
can;  for  it  may  do  you  good.”  And  I, 
holding  on  to  the  door  with  one  hand 
as  much  as  I  could,  got  hold  of  the 
loaf  with  the  other.  “Open  it”  (said 
my  master)  “and  look  carefully  at  what 
is  inside.”  Then,  when  I  had  broken 
open  the  loaf,  I  found  many  things 
inside  it,  especially  some  white  grains 
very  like  the  pustules  on  my  body ;  and 
I  saw  also  some  seeds  and  herbs  such 
as  I  could  not  eat  or  even  look  at,  with 
the  bones  of  serpents  and  other  animals. 
In  my  astonishment  I  asked  my  master 
what  was  to  be  done ;  and  he  told  me 
to  throw  it  all  into  the  fire.  I  did  so ; 
and  behold!  suddenly,  not  in  an  hour 
or  even  a  few  minutes,  but  at  the 
moment  when  that  matter  was  thrown 
into  the  fire,  I  regained  all  my  former 
health. 

And  much  more  was  deposed  against 
the  wife  of  the  citizen  in  whose  service 
this  woman  had  been,  by  reason  of 
which  she  was  not  lightly  but  very 
strongly  suspected,  and  especially  be¬ 
cause  she  had  used  great  familiarity 
-  with  known  witches.  It  is  presumed 
that,  having  knowledge  of  the  spell  of 
witchcraft  hidden  in  the  loaf,  she  had 
told  it  to  her  husband;  and  then,  in 
the  way  described,  the  maid-servant 
recovered  her  health. 

To  bring  so  great  a  crime  into 
detestation,  it  is  well  that  we  should 
tell  how  another  person,  also  a  woman, 
was  bewitched  in  the  same  town.  An 
honest  married  woman  deposed  the 
following  on  oath. 

Behind  my  house  (she  said)  I  have 
a  greenhouse,  and  my  neighbour’s 
garden  borders  on  it.  One  day  I 
noticed  that  a  passage  had  been  made 
from  my  neighbour’s  garden  to  my 
greenhouse,  not  without  some  damage 


being  caused;  and  as  I  was  standing 
in  the  door  of  my  greenhouse  reckoning 
to  myself  and  bemoaning  both  the 
passage  and  the  damage,  my  neighbour 
suddenly  came  up  and  asked  if  I 
suspected  her.  But  I  was  frightened 
because  of  her  bad  reputation,  and 
only  answered,  “The  footprints  on  the 
grass  are  a  proof  of  the  damage.”  Then 
she  was  indignant  because  I  had  not, 
as  she  hoped,  accused  her  with  action¬ 
able  words,  and  went  away  murmuring ; 
and  though  I  could  hear  her  words,  I 
could  not  understand  them.  After  a 
few  days  I  became  very  ill  with  pains 
in  the  stomach,  and  the  sharpest 
twinges  shooting  from  my  left  side  to 
my  right,  and  conversely,  as  if  two 
swords  or  knives  were  thrust  through 
my  breast;  whence  day  and  night  I 
disturbed  all  the  neighbours  with  my 
cries.  And  when  they  came  from  all 
sides  to  console  me,  it  happened  that  a 
certain  clay-worker,  who  was  engaged 
in  an  adulterous  intrigue  with  that 
witch,  my  neighbour,  coming  to  visit 
me,  took  pity  on  my  illness,  and  after 
a  few  words  of  comfort  went  away. 
But  the  next  day  he  returned  in  a 
hurry,  and,  after  consoling  me,  added : 
“I  am  going  to  test  whether  your  illness 
is  due  to  witchcraft,  and  if  I  find  that  it 
is,  I  shall  restore  your  health.”  So  he 
took  some  molten  lead  and,  while  I  was 
lying  in  bed,  poured  it  into  a  bowl  of 
water  which  he  placed  on  my  body. 
And  when  the  lead  solidified  into  a 
certain  image  and  various  shapes,  he 
said :  “See !  your  illness  has  been  caused 
by  witchcraft;  and  one  of  the  instru¬ 
ments  of  that  witchcraft  is  hidden  under 
the  threshold  of  your  house  door.  Let 
us  go,  then,  and  remove  it,  and  you 
will  feel  better.”  So  my  husband  and 
he  went  to  remove  the  charm ;  and  the 
clay- worker,  taking  up  the  threshold, 
told  my  husband  to  put  his  hand  into 
the  hole  which  then  appeared,  and  take 
out  whatever  he  found ;  and  he  did 
so.  And  first  he  brought  out  a  waxen 
image  about  a  palm  long,  perforated 
all  over,  and  pierced  through  the 
sides  with  two  needles,  just  in  the  same 
way  that  I  felt  the  stabbing  pains  from 
side  to  side;  and  then  little  bags  con¬ 
taining  all  sorts  of  things,  such  as  grains 
and  seeds  and  bones.  And  when  all 
these  things  were  burned,  I  became 
better,  but  not  entirely  well.  For 
although  the  shootings  and  twinges 
stopped,  and  I  quite  regained  my 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  12 


MALEFICARUM 


139 


appetite  for  food,  yet  even  now  I  am 
by  no  means  fully  restored  to  health. — 
And  when  we  asked  her  why  it  was  that 
she  had  not  been  completely  restored, 
she  answered :  There  are  some  other 
instruments  of  witchcraft  hidden  away 
which  I  cannot  find.  And  when  I 
asked  the  man  how  he  knew  where 
the  first  instruments  were  hidden,  he 
answered :  “I  knew  this  through  the 
love  which  prompts  a  friend  to  tell 
things  to  a  friend;  for  your  neighbour 
revealed  this  to  me  when  she  was  coax¬ 
ing  me  to  commit  adultery  with  her.5’ 
This  is  the  story  of  the  sick  woman. 

But  if  I  were  to  tell  all  the  instances 
that  were  found  in  that  one  town  I 
should  need  to  make  a  book  of  them. 
For  countless  men  and  women  who 
were  blind,  or  lame,  or  withered,  or 
plagued  with  various  infirmities, 
severally  took  their  oath  that  they 
had  strong  suspicions  that  their  ill¬ 
nesses,  both  in  general  and  in  particular, 
were  caused  by  witches,  and  that 
they  were  bound  to  endure  those  ills 
either  for  a  period  or  right  up  to  their 
deaths.  And  all  that  they  said  and 
testified  was  true,  either  as  regards  a 
specified  illness  or  as  regards  the  death 
of  others.  For  that  country  abounds  in 
henchmen  and  knights  who  have  leisure 
for  vice,  and  seduce  women,  and  then 
wish  to  cast  them  off  when  they  desire 
to  marry  an  honest  woman.  But  they 
can  rarely  do  this  without  incurring 
the  vengeance  of  some  witchcraft  upon 
themselves  or  their  wives.  For  when 
those  women  see  themselves  despised, 
they  persist  in  tormenting  not  so  much 
the  husband  as  the  wife,  in  the  fond 
hope  that,  if  the  wife  should  die,  the 
husband  would  return  to  his  former 
mistress.  * 

For  when  a  cook  of  the  Archduke 
had  married  an  honest  girl  from 
a  foreign  country,  a  witch,  who  had 
been  his  mistress,  met  them  in  the 
public  road  and,  in  the  hearing  of 
other  honest  people,  foretold  the  be¬ 
witching  and  death  of  the  girl,  stretch¬ 
ing  out  her  hand  and  saying:  “Not  for 
long  will  you  rejoice  in  your  husband.” 
And  at  once,  on  the  following  day,  she 
took  to  her  bed,  and  after  a  few  days 
paid  the  debt  of  all  flesh,  exclaiming 
just  as  she  expired :  Lo !  thus  I  die, 
because  that  woman,  with  God’s  per¬ 
mission,  has  killed  me  by  her  witch¬ 
craft;  yet  verily  I  go  to  another  and 
better  marriage  with  God. 


In  the  same  way,  according  to  the 
evidence  of  public  report,  a  certain 
soldier  was  slain  by  witchcraft,  and 
many  others  whom  I  omit  to  mention. 

But  among  them  there  was  a  well- 
known  gentleman,  whom  his  mistress 
wished  to  come  to  her  on  one  occasion 
to  pass  the  night ;  but  he  sent  his 
servant  to  tell  her  that  he  could  not 
visit  her  that  night  because  he  was 
busy.  She  promptly  flew  into  a  rage, 
and  said  to  the  servant:  Go  and  tell 
your  master  that  he  will  not  trouble 
me  for  long.  On  the  very  next  day 
he  was  taken  ill,  and  was  buried 
within  a  week. 

And  there  are  witches  who  can 
bewitch  their  judges  by  a  mere  look 
or  glance  from  their  eyes,  and  publicly 
boast  that  they  cannot  be  punished; 
and  when  malefactors  have  been  im¬ 
prisoned  for  their  crimes,  and  exposed 
to  the  severest  torture  to  make  them 
tell  the  truth,  these  witches  can  endow 
them  with  such  an  obstinacy  of  pre¬ 
serving  silence  that  they  are  unable  to 
lay  bare  their  crimes. 

And  there  are  some  who,  in  order  to 
accomplish  their  evil  charms  and  spells, 
beat  and  stab  the  Crucifix,  and  utter 
the  filthiest  words  against  the  Purity 
of  the  Most  Glorious  Virgin  MARY, 
casting  the  foulest  aspersions  on  the 
Nativity  of  Our  Saviour  from  Her 
inviolate  womb.  It  is  not  expedient 
to  repeat  those  vile  words,  nor  yet  to 
describe  their  detestable  crimes,  as  the 
narrative  would  give  too  great  offence 
to  the  ears  of  the  pious;  but  they  are 
all  kept  and  preserved  in  writing,  detail¬ 
ing  the  manner  in  which  a  certain 
baptized  Jewess  had  instructed  other 
young  girls.  And  one  of  them,  named* 
Walpurgis,  being  in  the  same  year  at 
fKe  point  of  death,  and  being  urged  by 
those  who  stood  round  her  to  confess 
her  sins,  exclaimed :  I  have  given  myself 
body  and  soul  to  the  devil ;  there  is  no 
hope  of  forgiveness  for  me;  and  so 
died. 

These  particulars  have  not  been 
written  to  the  shame,  but  rather  to  the 
praise  and  glory  of  the  most  illustrious 
Archduke.  For  he  was  truly  a  Catholic 
Prince,  and  laboured  very  zealously 
with  the  Church  at  Brixen  to  exter¬ 
minate  witches.  But  they  are  written 
rather  in  hate  and  loathing  of  so  great 
a  crime,  and  that  men  may  not  cease 
to  avenge  their  wrongs,  and  the  insults 
and  offences  these  wretches  offer  to 


140 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  1.  Ch.  13 


the  Creator  and  our  Holy  Faith,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  temporal  losses 
which  they  cause.  For  this  is  their 
greatest  and  gravest  crime,  namely,  that 
they  abjure  the  Faith. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  XIII 

How  Witch  Midwives  commit  most  Horrid 
Crimes  when  they  either  Kill  Children 
or  Offer  them  to  Devils  in  most  Accursed 
Wise. 

WE  must  not  omit  to  mention 
the  injuries  done  to  children  by 
witch  midwives,  first  by  killing  them, 
and  secondly  by  blasphemously  offering 
them  to  devils.  In  the  diocese  of 
Strasburg  and  in  the  town  of  Zabern 
there  is  an  honest  woman  very  devoted 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  MARY,  who  tells 
the  following  experience  of  hers  to  all 
the  guests  that  come  to  the  tavern  which 
she  keeps,  known  by  the  sign  of  the 
Black  Eagle. 

I  was,  she  says,  pregnant  by  my 
lawful  husband,  now  dead,  and  as  my 
time  approached,  a  certain  midwife 
importuned  me  to  engage  her  to  assist 
at  the  birth  of  my  child.  But  I  knew 
her  bad  reputation,  and  although  I  had 
decided  to  engage  another  woman, 
pretended  with  conciliatory  words  to 
agree  to  her  request.  But  when  the 
pains  came  upon  me,  and  I  had  brought 
in  another  midwife,  the  first  one  was 
very  angry,  and  hardly  a  week  later 
came  into  my  room  one  night  with 
two  other  women,  and  approached  the 
bed  where  I  was  lying.  And  when  I 
tried  to  call  my  husband,  who  was 
sleeping  in  another  room,  all  the  use 
was  taken  away  from  my  limbs  and 
tongue,  so  that  except  for  seeing  and 
hearing  I  could  not  move  a  muscle. 
And  the  witch,  standing  between  the 
other  two,  said :  “See !  this  vile  woman, 
who  would  not  take  me  for  her  mid¬ 
wife,  shall  notwin  through  unpunished.’  ’ 
The  other  two  standing  by  her  pleaded 
for  me,  saying :  “She  has  never  harmed 
any  of  us.”  But  the  witch  added: 
“Because  she  has  offended  me  I  am 
going  to  put  something  into  her  entrails ; 
but,  to  please  you,  she  shall  not  feel  any 
pain  for  half  a  year,  but  after  that 
time  she  shall  be  tortured  enough.” 
So  she  came  up  and  touched  my  belly 
with  her  hands ;  and  it  seemed  to  me 


that  she  took  out  my  entrails,  and  put 
in  something  which,  however,  I  could 
not  see.  And  when  they  had  gone 
away,  and  I  had  recovered  my  power 
of  speech,  I  called  my  husband  as  soon 
as  possible,  and  told  him  what  had 
happened.  But  he  put  it  down  to 
pregnancy,  and  said :  “You  pregnant 
women  are  always  suffering  from  fancies 
and  delusions.”  And  when  he  would  by 
no  means  believe  me,  I  replied :  “I 
have  been  given  six  months’  grace,  and 
if,  after  that  time,  no  torment  comes  to 
me,  I  shall  believe  you.” 

She  related  this  to  her  son,  a  cleric 
who  was  then  Archdeacon  of  the 
district,  and  who  came  to  visit  her  on 
the  same  day.  And  what  happened? 
When  exactly  six  months  had  passed, 
such  a  terrible  pain  came  into  her 
belly  that  she  could  not  help  disturbing 
everybody  with  her  cries  day  and  night. 
And  because,  as  has  been  said,  she  was 
most  devout  to  the  Virgin,  the  Queen  of 
Mercy,  she  fasted  with  bread  and 
water  every  Saturday,  so  that  she 
believed  that  she  was  delivered  by  Her 
intercession.  For  one  day,  when  she 
wanted  to  perform  ,  an  action  of  nature, 
all  those  unclean  things  fell  from  her 
body ;  and  she  called  her  husband  and 
her  son,  and  said:  “Are  those  fancies? 
Did  I  not  say  that  after  half  a  year 
the  truth  would  be  known?  Or  who 
ever  saw  me  eat  thorns,  bones,  and 
even  bits  of  wood?”  For  there  were 
brambles  as  long  as  a  palm,  as  well  as 
a  quantity  of  other  things. 

Moreover  (as  was  said  in  the  First 
Part  of  the  work),  it  was  shown  by  the 
confession  of  the  servant,  who  was 
brought  to  judgement  at  Breisach,  that 
the  greatest  injuries  to  the  Faith  as 
regards  the  heresy  of  witches  are  done 
by  midwives ;  and  this  is  made  clearer 
than  daylight  itself  by  the  confessions 
of  some  who  were  afterwards  burned. 

For  in  the  diocese  of  Basel  at  the 
town  of  Dann,  a  witch  who  was  burned 
confessed  that  she  had  killed  more  than 
forty  children,  by  sticking  a  needle 
through  the  crowns  of  their  heads  into 
their  brains,  as  they  came  out  from 
the  womb. 

Finally,  another  woman  in  the  diocese 
of  Strasburg  confessed  that  she  had 
killed  more  children  than  she.  could 
count.  And  she  was  caught  in  this 
way.  She  had  been  called  from  one 
town  to  another  to  act  as  midwife  to 
a  certain  woman,  and»  having  per- 


Part  II.  Qn  i .  Ch.  13  MALEFICARUM 


141 


formed  her  office,  was  going  back 
home.  But  as  she  went  out  of  the  town 
gate,  the  arm  of  a  newly-born  child  fell 
out  of  the  cloak  she  had  wrapped 
round  her,  in  whose  folds  the  arm  had 
been  concealed.  This  was  seen  by 
those  who  were  sitting  in  the  gateway, 
and  when  she  had  gone  on,  they  picked 
up  from  the  ground  what  they  took 
to  be  a  piece  of  meat ;  but  when  they 
looked  more  closely  and  saw  that  it 
was  not  a  piece  of  meat,  but  recognized 
it  by  its  fingers  as  a  child’s  arm,  they 
reported  it  to  the  magistrates,  and  it 
was  found  that  a  child  had  died  before 
baptism,  lacking  an  arm.  So  the  witch 
was  taken  and  questioned,  and  con¬ 
fessed  the  crime,  and  that  she  had,  as 
has  been  said,  killed  more  children 
than  she  could  count. 

Now  the  reason  for  such  practices  is 
as  follows:  It  is  to  be  presumed  that 
witches  are  compelled  to  do  such 
things  at  the  command  of  evil  spirits, 
and  sometimes  against  their  own  wills. 
For  the  devil  knows  that,  because  of  the 
pain  of  loss,*  or  original  sin,  such 
children  are  debarred  from  entering 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  And  by  this 
means  the  Last  Judgement  is  delayed, 
when  the  devils  will  be  condemned  to 
eternal  torture ;  since  the  number  of  the 
elect  is  more  slowly  completed,  on  the 
fulfilment  of  which  the  world  will  be 
consumed.  And  also,  as  has  already 
been  shown,  witches  are  taught  by  the 
devil  to  confect  from  the  limbs  of  such 
children  an  unguent  which  is  very 
useful  for  their  spells. 

But  in  order  to  bring  so  great  a  sin 
into  utter  detestation,  we  must  not 
pass  over  in  silence  the  following  horrible 
crime.  For  when  they  do  not  kill  the 
child,  they  blasphemously  offer  it  to 
the  devil  in  this  manner.  As  soon  as 
the  child  is  born,  the  midwife,  if  the 
mother  herself  is  not  a  witch,  carries 
it  out  of  the  room  on  the  pretext  of 
warming  it,  raises  it  up,  and  offers  it 
to  the  Prince  of  Devils,  that  is  Lucifer, 
and  to  all  the  devils.  And  this  is  done 
by  the  kitchen  fire. 

A  certain  man  relates  that  he  noticed 
that  his  wife,  when  her  time  came  to 
give  birth,  against  the  usual  custom  of 
women  in  childbirth,  did  not  allow 
any  woman  to  approach  the  bed  except 
her  own  daughter,  who  acted  as  mid¬ 
wife.  Wishing  to  know  the  reason  for 

*  “ Pain  of  lossy  Poena  damni. 


this,  he  hid  himself  in  the  house  and 
saw  the  whole  order  of  the  sacrilege  and 
dedication  to  the  devil,  as  it  has  been 
described.  He  saw  also,  as  it  seemed 
to  him,  that  without  any  human  sup¬ 
port,  but  by  the  power  of  the  devil, 
the  child  was  climbing  up  the  chain  by 
which  the  cooking-pots  were  suspended . 
In  great  consternation  both  at  the 
terrible  words  of  the  invocation  of  the 
devils,  and  at  the  other  iniquitous 
ceremonies,  he  strongly  insisted  that 
the  child  should  be  baptized  immedi¬ 
ately.  While  it  was  being  carried  to 
the  next  village,  where  there  was  a 
church,  and  when  they  had  to  cross  a 
bridge  over  a  certain  river,  he  drew 
his  sword  and  ran  at  his  daughter,  who 
was  carrying  the  child,  saying  in  the 
hearing  of  two  others  who  were  with 
them:  “You  shall  not  carry  the  child 
over  the  bridge;  for  either  it  must 
cross  the  bridge  by  itself,  or  you  shall 
be  drowned  in  the  river.”  The  daughter 
was  terrified  and,  together  with  the 
other  women  in  company,  asked  him 
if  he  were  in  his  right  mind  (for  he  had 
hidden  what  had  happened  from  all 
the  others  except  the  two  men  who  were 
with  him).  Then  he  answered:  “You 
vile  drab,  by  your  magic  arts  you  made 
the  child  climb  the  chain  in  the 
kitchen;  now  make  it  cross  the  bridge 
with  no  one  carrying  it,  or  I  shall 
drown  you  in  the  river.”  And  so,  being 
compelled,  she  put  the  child  down  on 
the  bridge,  and  invoked  the  devil  by 
her  art;  and  suddenly  the  child  was 
seen  on  the  other  side  of  the  bridge. 
And  when  the  child  had  been  baptized, 
and  he  had  returned  home,  since  he 
now  had  witnesses  to  convict  his 
daughter  of  witchcraft  (for  he  could  not 
prove  the  former  crime  of  the  oblation 
to  the  devil,  inasmuch  as  he  had  been 
the  only  witness  of  that  sacrilegious 
ritual),  he  accused  both  daughter  and 
mother  before  the  judge  after  their 

Eeriod  of  purgation;  and  they  were 
oth  burned,  and  the  crime  of  mid¬ 
wives  of  making  that  sacrilegious  offer¬ 
ing  was  discovered. 

But  here  the  doubt  arises:  to  what 
end  or  purpose  is  this  sacrilegious 
offering  of  children,  and  how  does  it 
benefit  the  devils?  To  this  it  can  be 
said  that  the  devils  do  this  for  three 
reasons,  which  serve  three  most  wicked 
purposes.  The  first  reason  arises  from 
their  pride,  which  always  increases; 
as  it  is  said :  “They  that  hate  Thee  have 


142 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  13 


lifted  up  the  head.”*  For  they  try  as 
far  as  possible  to  conform  with  divine 
rites  and  ceremonies.  Secondly,  they 
can  more  easily  deceive  men  under  the 
mask  of  an  outwardly  seeming  pious 
'  action.  For  in  the  same  way  they 
entice  young  virgins  and  boys  into 
their  power;  for  though  they  might 
solicit  such  by  means  of  evil  and 
corrupt  men,  yet  they  rather  deceive 
them  by  magic  mirrors  and  the  reflec¬ 
tions  seen  in  witches’  finger-nails,  and 
lure  them  on  in  the  belief  that  they 
love  chastity,  whereas  they  hate  it. 
For  the  devil  hates  above  all  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  because  she  bruised  his 
head  ( Genesis  iii.  15)4  Just  so  in  this 
oblation  of  children  they  deceive  the 
minds  of  witches  into  the  vice  of 
.  infidelity  under  the  appearance  of  a 
virtuous  act.  And  the  third  reason  is, 
that  the  perfidy  of  witches  may  grow, 
to  the  devils’  own  gain,  when  they 
have  witches  dedicated  to  them  from 
their  very  cradles. 

And  this  sacrilege  affects  the  child 
in  three  ways.  In  the  first  place, 
visible  offerings  to  God  are  made  of 
visible  things,  such  as  wine  or  bread 
or  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  as  a  sign  of 
honour  and  subjection  to  Him,  as  it  is 
said  in  Ecclesiasticus  xxv  :  Thou  shalt 
not  appear  empty  before  the  Lord. 
And  such  offerings  cannot  and  must 
not  afterwards  be  put  to  profane  uses. 
Therefore  the  holy  Father,  S.  John 
Damascene,  says :  The  oblations  which 
are  offered  in  church  belong  only  to 
the  priests,  but  not  that  they  should 
divert  them  to  their  own  uses,  but 
that  they  should  faithfully  distribute 
them,  partly  in  the  observance  of 
divine  worship,  and  partly  for  the 
use  of  the  poor.  From  this  it  follows 
that  a  child  who  has  been  offered  to 
the  devil  in  sign  of  subjection  and 
homage  to  him  cannot  possibly  be 
dedicated  by  Catholics  to  a  holy  life, 
in  worthy  and  fruitful  service  to  God 
for  the  benefit  of  himself  and  others. 

For  who  can  say  that  the  sins  of  the 
mothers  and  of  others  do  not  redound  in 
punishment  upon  the  children?  Per¬ 
haps  someone  will  quote  that  saying  of 
the  prophet :  “The  son  shall  not  bear 


*  “Head”  “Psalm”  Ixxxii ,  2. 
f  “Genesis.”  Inimicitias  ponam  inter  te  et 
mulierem ,  et  semen  tuum  et  semen  illius:  ipsa 
conteret  caput  tuum,  et  tu  insidiaberis  calcaneo 
eius . 


the  iniquity  of  the  father.”  But  there  is 
that  other  passage  in  Exodus  xx :  I  am 
a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  sins  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the 
third  and  fourth  generation.  Now  the 
meaning  of  these  two  sayings  is  as 
follows.  The  first  speaks  of  spiritual 
punishment  in  the  judgement  of  Heaven 
or  God,  and  not  in  the  judgement  of 
men.  And  this  is  the  punishment  of  the 
soul,  such  as  loss  or  the  forfeiture  of 
glory,  or  the  punishment  of  pain,  that 
is,  of  the  torment  of  eternal  fire.  And 
with  such  punishments  no  one  is 
punished  except  for  his  own  sin,  either 
inherited  as  original  sin  or  committed  as 
actual  sin. 

The  second  text  speaks  of  those  who 
imitate  the  sins  of  their  fathers,  as 
Gratian*  has  explained  (I,  q.  4,  etc.) ; 
and  there  he  gives  other  explanations 
as  to  how  the  judgement  of  God  inflicts 
other  punishments  on  a  man,  not  only 
for  his  own  sins  which  he  has  com¬ 
mitted,  or  which  he  might  commit  (but 
is  prevented  by  punishment  from  com¬ 
mitting),  but  also  for  the  sins  of  others. 

And  it  cannot  be  argued  that  then  a 
man  is  punished  without  cause,  and 
without  sin,  which  should  be  the  cause 
of  punishment.  For  according  to  the 
rule  of  the  law,  no  one  miist  be  punished 
without  sin,  unless  there  is  some  cause 
for  it.  And  we  can  say  that  there  is 
always  a  most  just  cause,  though  it  may 
not  be  known  to  us:  see  S.  Augustine, 
XXIV,  4.  And  if  we  cannot  in  the 
result  penetrate  the  depth  of  God’s 
judgement,  yet  we  know  that  what  He 
has  said  is  true,  and  what  He  has  done 
is  just. 

But  there  is  this  distinction  to  be 
observed  in  innocent  children  who  are 
offered  to  devils  not  by  their  mothers 
when  they  are  witches,  but  by  midwives 
who,  as  we  have  said,  secretly  take 
from  the  embrace  and  the  womb  of  an 
honest  mother.  Such  children  are  not 

*  “ Gratian  ”  The  little  that  is  known  con¬ 
cerning  the  author  of  the  “ Concordantia  dis¬ 
cordantium  canonum ,”  more  generally  called  the 
“Decretum  Gratiani ,”  must  be  gathered  from  the 
work  itself.  Gratian  was  born  in  Italy,  perhaps 
at  Chiusi.  He  became  a  Camaldolese  monk  and 
taught  at  Bologna.  It  is  uncertain  at  what  time 
he  compiled  the  “Decretum,”  but  it  was  commonly 
held  to  have  been  completed  in  1151.  More 
recent  authorities ,  however,  are  inclined  to  suggest 
1140.  Gratian  died  before  uyg,  some  think  as 
early  as  1160.  He  is  regarded  as  the  true  founder 
of  the  science  of  canon  law. 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  13  MALEFICARUM 


143 


so  cut  off  from  grace  that  they  must 
necessarily  become  prone  to  such 
crimes ;  but  it  is  piously  to  be  believed 
that  they  may  rather  cultivate  their 
mothers’  virtues. 

The  second  result  to  the  children  of 
this  sacrilege  is  as  follows.  When  a  man 
offers  himself  as  a  sacrifice  to  God,  he 
recognizes  God  as  his  Beginning  and 
his  End ;  and  this  sacrifice  is  more 
worthy  than  all  the  external  sacrifices 
which  he  makes,  having  its  beginning 
in  his  creation  and  its  end  in  his 
glorification,  as  it  is  said :  A  sacrifice  to 
God  is  an  afflicted  spirit,*  etc.  In  the 
same  way,  when  a  witch  offers  a  child 
to  the  devil,  she  commends  it  body  and 
soul  to  him  as  its  beginning  and  its  end 
in  eternal  damnation ;  wherefore  not 
without  some  miracle  can  the  child  be 
set  free  from  the  payment  of  so  great  a 
debt. 

And  we  read  often  in  history  of 
children  whom  their  mothers,  in  some 
passion  or  mental  disturbance,  have 
unthinkingly  offered  to  the  devil  from 
the  very  womb,  and  how  it  is  only 
with  the  very  greatest  difficulty  that 
they  can,  when  they  have  grown  to 
adult  age,  be  delivered  from  that 
bondage  which  the  devil  has,  with 
God’s  permission,  usurped  to  himself. 
And  of  this  the  Book  of  Examples,  Most 
Blessed  Virgin  MAR  T,  affords  many  illus¬ 
trations  ;  a  notable  instance  being  that 
of  the  man  whom  the  Supreme  Pontiff 
was  unable  to  deliver  from  the  torments 
of  the  devil,  but  at  last  he  was  sent  to 
a  holy  man  living  in  the  East,  and 
finally  with  great  difficulty  was  delivered 
from  his  bondage  through  the  inter¬ 
cession  of  the  Most  Glorious  Virgin 
Herself. 

And  if  God  so  severely  punishes  even 
such  a  thoughtless,  I  will  not  say 
sacrifice,  but  commendation  used 
angrily  by  a  mother  when  her  husband, 
after  copulating  with  her,  says,  I  hope 
a  child  will  come  of  it ;  and  she 
answers,  May  the  child  go  to  the 
devil !  How  much  greater  must  be  the 
punishment  when  the  Divine  Majesty  is 
offended  in  the  way  we  have  described ! 

The  third  effect  of  this  sacrilegious 
oblation  is  to  inculcate  an  habitual 
inclination  to  cast  spells  upon  men, 
animals,  and  the  fruits  of  the  earth. 
This  is  shown  by  S.  Thomas  in  the 
and  Book,  quest.  108,  where  he  speaks 


of  temporal  punishment,  how  some  are 
unished  for  the  sins  of  others.  For 
e  says  that,  bodily  speaking,  sons  are 
part  of  their  fathers’  possessions,  and 
servants  and  animals  belong  to  their 
masters ;  therefore  when  a  man  is 
punished  in  all  his  possessions,  it  follows 
that  often  the  sons  suffer  for  the  fathers. 

And  this  is  quite  a  different  matter 
from  what  has  been  said  about  God 
visiting  the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon  the 
children  unto  the  third  and  fourth 
generation.  For  there  it  is  a  question  of 
those  who  imitate  their  fathers’  sins; 
but  here  we  speak  of  those  who  suffer 
instead  of  their  fathers,  when  they  do 
not  imitate  their  sins  by  committing 
them  in  fact,  but  only  inherit  the 
results  of  their  sins.  For  in  this  way  the 
son  born  to  David  in  adultery  died 
very  soon;  and  the  animals  of  the 
Amalekites  were  ordered  to  be  killed. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  much  mystery  in 
all  this. 

Taking  into  consideration  all  that 
we  have  said,  we  may  well  conclude 
that  such  children  are  always,  up  to  the 
end  of  their  lives,  predisposed  to  the 
perpetration  of  witchcraft.  For  just  as 
God  sanctifies  that  which  is  dedicated 
to  Him,  as  is  proved  by  the  deeds  of 
the  Saints,  when  parents  offer  to  God 
the  fruit  which  they  have  generated ; 
so  also  the  devil  does  not  cease  to 
infect  with  evil  that  which  is  offered 
to  him.  Many  examples  can  be  found 
in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  For 
so  were  many  of  the  Patriarchs  and 
Prophets,  such  as  Isaac,  Samuel,  and 
Samson ;  and  so  were  Alexis  and 
Nicolas, t  and  many  more,  guided  by 
much  grace  to  a  holy  life. 


f  “ Alexis .”  S.  Alexis ,  Confessor.  Feast ,  /7 
July.  The  Basilica  and  title-church  of  SS. 
Bonifacio  ed  Alessio  alV  Aventino ,  Rome ,  con¬ 
tains  the  bodies  of  S.  Boniface  and  S.  Alexis  under 
the  High  Altar.  S.  Aglae  is  buried  in  the  con¬ 
fessional. 

S.  Nicolas  of  Tolentino,  O.S.A. ,  circa  1246- 
1306 ,  was  born  of  gentlefolk,  Compagnonus  de 
Guarutti  and  Amata  de  Guidiani,  pious  and 
devout ,  living  in  great  seclusion  on  very  moderate 
means.  He  was  the  child  of  prayer ,  his  mother 
being  advanced  in  years  and  vowing  her  son, 
should  she  bare  one,  to  God  from  the  womb . 
His  parents  joyfully  consented  to  his  joining  the 
Order  of  Augustinian  Hermits,  of  which  he  is 
one  of  the  greatest  glories.  S.  Nicolas  was 
distinguished  by  angelic  meekness  and  celestial 
purity.  He  died  10  September,  and  his  feast  is 
celebrated  on  that  day. 


*  “Spirit.”  “Psalm”  l,  i9. 


*44 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  14 


Finally,  we  know  from  experience 
that  the  daughters  of  witches  are 
always  suspected  of  similar  practices,  as 
imitators  of  their  mothers’  crimes;  and 
that  indeed  the  whole  of  a  witch’s 
progeny  is  infected.  And  the  reason  for 
this  and  for  all  that  has  been  said 
before  is,  that  according  to  their  pact 
with  the  devil,  they  always  have  to 
leave  behind  them  and  carefully  in- 
j  struct  a  survivor,  so  that  they  may 
1  fulfil  their  vow  to  do  all  they  can  to 
increase  the  number  of  witches.*  For 
how  else  could  it  happen,  as  it  has 
very  often  been  found,  that  tender 
girls  of  eight  or  ten  years  have  raised  up 
I  tempests  and  hailstorms,  unless  they 
I  had  been  dedicated  to  the  devil  under 
such  a  pact  by  their  mothers.  For 
the  children  could  not  do  such  things 
of  themselves  by  abjuring  the  Faith, 
}  which  is  how  all  adult  witches  have  to 
I  begin,  since  they  have  no  knowledge 
I  of  any  single  article  of  the  Faith.  We 
-  will  recount  an  example  of  such  a  child. 

In  the  duchy  of  Swabia  a  certain 
farmer  went  to  his  fields  with  his  little 
daughter,  hardly  eight  years  old,  to 
look  at  his  crops,  and  began  com¬ 
plaining  about  the  drought,  saying: 
Alas!  when  will  it  rain?  The  girl 
heard  him,  and  in  the  simplicity  of  her 
heart  said:  Father,  if  you  want  it  to 
rain,  I  can  soon  make  it  come.  And 
her  father  said  to  her:  What?  Do  you 
know  how  to  make  it  rain?  And  the 
girl  answered :  I  can  make  it  rain,  and 
I  can  make  hailstorms  and  tempests  too. 
And  the  father  asked:  Who  taught 
you?  And  she  answered:  My  mother 
did,  but  she  told  me  not  to  tell  any¬ 
body.  Then  the  father  asked:  How 
did  she  teach  you?  And  she  answered: 
She  sent  me  to  a  master  who  will  do 
anything  I  ask  at  any  time.  But  her 
father  said:  Have  you  ever  seen  him? 


*  “ Number  of  Witches .”  Francesco  Maria 
Guazzo,  “ Compendium  Maleficarum ,”  Milan, 
1608,  tells  us  that  the  witches  promise  the  devil 
“ to  strive  with  all  their  power  and  to  use  every 
inducement  and  endeavour  to  draw  other  men  and 
women  to  their  detestable  practices  and  the 
worship  of  Satan”  So  in  the  case  of  Janet 
Breadheid  of  Auldearne  it  was  her  husband  who 
“ enticed  her  into  that  craft.”  [Pitcairn, “Criminal 
Trials,”  Edinburgh ,  1833.)  At  Salem,  George 
Burroughs,  a  minister,  was  accused  by  a  large 
I  ]  number  of  women  as  “ the  person  who  had 
Seduc’d  and  CompelVd  them  into  the  snares  of 
Witchcraft.”  See  my  “ History  of  Witchcraft ,” 
Chap.  Ill,  pp.  83-84. 


And  she  said:  I  have  sometimes  seen 
men  coming  in  and  out  to  my  mother ; 
and  when  I  asked  her  who  they  were, 
she  told  me  that  they  were  our  masters 
to  whom  she  had  given  me,  and  that 
they  were  powerful  and  rich  patrons. 
The  father  was  terrified,  and  asked  her 
if  she  could  raise  a  hailstorm  then. 
And  the  girl  said :  Yes,  if  I  had  a  little 
water.  Then  he  led  the  girl  by  the 
hand  to  a  stream,  and  said :  Do  it,  but 
only  on  our  land.  Then  the  girl  put 
her  hand  in  the  water  and  stirred  it 
in  the  name  of  her  master,  as  her 
mother  had  taught  her;  and  behold! 
the  rain  fell  only  on  that  land.  Seeing 
this,  the  father  said :  Make  it  hail  now, 
but  only  on  one  of  our  fields.  And 
when  the  girl  had  done  this,  the  father 
was  convinced  by  the  evidence,  and 
accused  his  wife  before  the  judge. 
And  the  wife  was  taken  and  convicted  j  j  | 
and  burned ;  but  the  daughter  was  j *  I 
reconciled  and  solemnly  dedicated  to 
God,  since  which  hour  she  could  no 
more  work  these  spells  and  charms. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Here  followeth  how  Witches  Injure  Cattle 
in  Various  Ways. 

WHEN  S.  Paul  said,  Doth  God 
care  for  oxen?  t  he  meant  that, 
though  all  things  are  subject  to  Divine 
providence,  both  man  and  beast  each 
in  its  degree,  as  the  Psalmist  says,j: 
yet  the  sons  of  men  are  especially  in 
His  governance  and  under  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  His  wings.  I  say,  therefore, 
if  men  are  injured  by  witches,  with 
God’s  permission,  both  the  innocent 
and  just  as  well  as  sinners,  and  if  parents 
are  bewitched  in  their  children,  as 
being  part  of  their  possessions,  who 
can  then  presume  to  doubt  that,  with 
God’s  permission,  various  injuries  can 
be  brought  by  witches  upon  cattle  and 
the  fruits  of  the  earth,  which  are  also 
part  of  men’s  possessions?  For  so  was 
Job  stricken  by  the  devil  and  lost  all 
his  cattle.  So  also  there  is  not  even 
the  smallest  farm  where  women  do  not 
injure  each  other’s  cows,  by  drying  up 
their  milk,  and  very  often  killing  them. 

But  let  us  first  consider  the  smallest 


f  “Oxen.”  “I.  Corinthians  ”  ix.  g. 

J  “Psalmist.”  “Psalmist  ”  xxxv,  J,  8. 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  14  MALEFICARUM 


145 


of  these  injuries,  that  of  drying  up  the 
milk.  If  it  is  asked  how  they  can  do 
this,  it  can  be  answered  that,  according 
to  Blessed  Albert  in  his  Book  on  Animals, 
milk  is  naturally  menstrual  in  any 
animal ;  and,  like  another  flux  in 
women,  when  it  is  nQt  stopped  by  some 
natural  infirmity,  it  is  due  to  witch¬ 
craft  that  it  is  stopped.  Now  the  flow 
of  milk  is  naturally  stopped  when  the 
animal  becomes  pregnant;  and  it  is 
stopped  by  an  accidental  infirmity 
when  the  animal  eats  some  herb  the 
nature  of  which  is  to  dry  up  the  milk 
and  make  the  cow  ill. 

But  they  can  cause  this  in  various 
ways  by  witchcraft.  For  on  the  more 
holy  nights  according  to  the  instructions 
of  the  devil  and  for  the  greater  offence 
to  the  Divine  Majesty  of  God,  a  witch 
will  sit  down  in  a  corner  of  her  house 
with  a  pail  between  her  legs,  stick  a 
knife  or  some  instrument  in  the  wall  or 
p  post,  and  make  as  if  to  milk  it  with 
her  hands.  Then  she  summons  her 
/familiar  who  always  works  with  her 
in  everything,  and  tells  him  that  she 
wishes  to  milk  a  certain  cow  from  a 
certain  house,  which  is  healthy  and 
abounding  in  milk.  And  suddenly  the 
devil  takes  the  milk  from  the  udder  of 
that  cow,  and  brings  it  to  where  the 
witch  is  sitting,  as  if  it  were  flowing 
from  the  knife. 

But  when  this  is  publicly  preached  to 
the  people  they  get  no  bad  information 
by  it;  for  however  much  anyone  may 
invoke  the  devil,  and  think  that  by 
*this  means  alone  he  can  do  this  thing, 
he  deceives  himself,  because  he  is 
without  the  foundation  of  that  perfidy, 
not  having  rendered  homage  to  the  devil 
or  abjured  the  FafflLTTIve  set  This 
down  because  some  have  thought  that 
several  of  the  matters  of  which  I  have 
written  ought  not  to  be  preached  to  the 
people,  on  account  of  the  danger  of 
[  giving  them  evil  knowledge;  whereas 
it  is  impossible  for  anyone  to  learn 
from  a  preacher  how  to  perform  any  of 
the  things  that  have  been  mentioned. 
But  they  have  been  written  rather  to 
bring  so  great  a  crime  into  detestation, 
and  should  be  preached  from  the 
pulpit,  so  that  judges  may  be  more 
eager  to  punish  the  horrible  crime  of 
the  abnegation  of  the  Faith.  Yet  they 
should  not  always  be  preached  in  this 
way;  for  the  secular  mind  pays  more 
attention  to  temporal  losses,  being 
more  concerned  with  earthly  than 


spiritual  matters ;  therefore  when 
witches  can  be  accused  of  inflicting 
temporal  loss,  judges  are  more  zealous 
to  punish  them.  But  who  can  fathom 
the  cunning  of  the  devil? 

I  know  of  some  men  in  a  certain 
city  who  wished  to  eat  some  May 
butter  one  May  time.  And  as  they 
were  walking  along  they  came  to  a 
meadow  and  sat  down  by  a  stream; 
and  one  of  them,  who  had  formed  some 
open  or  tacit  pact  with  the  devil, 
said:  I  will  get  you  the  best  May 
butter.  And  at  once  he  took  off  his 
clothes  and  went  into  the  stream,  not 
standing  up  but  sitting  with  his  back 
against  the  current ;  and  while  the 
others  looked  on,  he  uttered  certain 
words,  and  moved  the  water  with  his 
hands  behind  his  back;  and  in  a  short 
time  he  brought  out  a  great  quantity 
of  butter  of  the  sort  that  the  country 
women  sell  in  the  market  in  May. 
And  the  others  tasted  it,  and  declared 
it  was  the  very  best  butter. 

From  this  we  can  deduce  first  the 
following  fact  concerning  their 
practices.  They  are  either  true  witches, 
by  reason  of  an  expressed  pact  formed 
with  the  devil,  or  they  know  by  some 
tacit  understanding  that  the  devil  will 
do  what  they  ask.  In  the  first  case 
there  is  no  need  for  any  discussion,  for 
such  are  true  witches.  But  in  the 
second  case,  then  they  owe  the  devil’s 
help  to  the  fact  that  they  were  blasphem¬ 
ously  offered  to  the  devil  by  a  midwife 
or  by  their  own  mothers. 

But  it  may  be  objected  that  the 
devil  perhaps  brought  the  butter  with¬ 
out  any  compact,  expressed  or  tacit, 
and  without  any  previous  dedication 
to  himself.  It  is  answered  that  no  one 
can  ever  use  the  devil’s  help  in  such  jl 
matters  without  invoking  him ;  and  jj 
that  by  that  very  act  of  seeking  help  f  I 
from  the  devil  he  is  an  apostate  from  ’ 
the  Faith.  This  is  the  decision  of  S. 
Thomas  in  the  Second  Book  of  Sentences , 
dist.  8,  on  the  question,  Whether  it  is 
apostasy  from  the  Faith  to  use  the 
devil’s  help.  And  although  Blessed 
Albert  the  Great  agrees  with  the  other 
Doctors,  yet  he  says  more  expressly 
that  in  such  matters  there  is  always 
apostasy  either  in  word  or  in  deed. 
For  if  invocations,  conjurations,  fumi¬ 
gations  and  adorations  are  used,  then 
an  open  pact  is  formed  with  the  devil, 
even  if  there  has  been  no  surrender  of 
body  and  soul  together  with  explicit 


146 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  1.  Ch.  14 


abjuration  of  the  Faith  either  wholly 
or  in  part.  For  by  the  mere  invoca¬ 
tion  of  the  devil  a  man  commits  open 
verbal  apostasy.  But  if  there  is  no 
spoken  invocation,  but  only  a  bare 
action  from  which  follows  something 
that  could  not  be  done  without  the 
devil’s  help,  then  whether  a  man  does  it 
by  beginning  in  the  name  of  the  devil, 
or  with  some  other  unknown  words,  or 
without  any  words  but  wi^h  that 
intention;  then,  says  Blessed  Albert,  it 
is  apostasy  of  deed,  because  that  action 
is  looked  for  from  the  devil.  But  since  to 
expect  or  receive  anything  from  the 
devil  is  always  a  disparagement  of  the 
Faith,  it  is  also  apostasy. 

So  it  is  concluded  that,  by  whatever 
means  that  sorcerer  procured  the 
butter,  it  was  done  with  either  a  tacit 
or  an  expressed  pact  with  the  devil ;  and 
since,  if  it  had  been  with  an  expressed 
pact,  he  would  have  behaved  after 
the  usual  manner  of  witches,  it  is 
probable  that  there  was  a  tacit  or 
secret  pact,  originating  either  from 
himself  or  from  his  mother  or  a  mid¬ 
wife.  And  I  say  that  it  arose  from 
himself,  since  he  only  went  through 
certain  motions,  and  expected  the 
devil  to  produce  the  effect. 

The  second  conclusion  we  can  draw 
from  this  and  similar  practices  is  this. 
The  devil  cannot  create  new  species 
of  things ;  therefore  when  natural  butter 
suddenly  came  out  of  the  water,  the 
devil  did  not  do  this  by  changing  the 
water  into  milk,  but  by  taking  butter 
from  some  place  where  it  was  kept 
and  bringing  it  to  the  man’s  hand.  Or 
else  he  took  natural  milk  from  a  natural 
cow  and  suddenly  churned  it  into 
natural  butter;  for  while  the  art  of 
women  takes  a  little  time  to  make 
butter,  the  devil  could  do  it  in  the 
shortest  space  of  time  and  bring  it  to 
the  man. 

It  is  in  the  same  way  that  certain 
dealers  in  magic,  when  they  find  them¬ 
selves  in  need  of  wine  or  some  such 
necessity,  merely  go  out  in  the  night 
into  a  village  with  a  flask  or  vessel, 
and  bring  it  back  suddenly  filled  with 
wine.  For  then  the  devil  takes  natural 
wine  from  some  vessel  and  fills  their 
flasks  for  them. 

And  with  regard  to  the  manner  where¬ 
by  witches  kill  animals  and  cattle,  it 
should  be  said  that  they  act  very  much 
as  they  do  in  the  case  of  men.  They 
can  bewitch  them  by  a  touch  and  a 


look,  or  by  a  look  only;  or  by  placing 
under  the  threshold  of  the  stable  door, 
or  near  the  place  where  they  go  to 
watery  some  charm  or  periapt  of 
witchcraft. 

For  in  this  way  those  witches  who 
were  burned  at  Ratisbon,  of  whom 
we  shall  say  more  later  on,  were  always 
incited  by  the  devil  to  bewitch  the  best 
horses  and  the  fattest  cattle.  And  when 
they  were  asked  how  they  did  so,  one 
of  them  named  Agnes  said  that  they 
hid  certain  things  undfer  the  threshold 
of  the  stable  door.  And,  asked  what 
sort  of  things,  she  said:  The  bones  of 
different  kinds  of  animals.  She  was 
further  asked  in  whose  name  they  did 
this,  and  answered,  In  the  name  of  the 
devil  and  all  the  other  devils.  And 
there  was  another  of  them,  named 
Anna,  who  had  killed  twenty-three  / 
horses  in  succession  belonging  to  one  of 
the  citizens  who  was  a  carrier.  This  f 
man  at  last,  when  he  had  bought  his 
twenty-fourth  horse  and  was  reduced 
to  extreme  poverty,  stood  in  his  stable 
and  said  to  the  witch,  who  was  standing1 
in  the  door  of  her  house :  “See,  I  have 
bought  a  horse,  and  I  swear  to  God  and 
His  Holy  Mother  that  if  this  horse  dies 
I  shall  kill  you  with  my  own  hands.” 
At  that  the  witch  was  frightened,  and 
left  the  horse  alone.  But  when  she  was 
taken  and  asked  how  she  had  done  these 
things,  she  answered  that  she  had  done 
nothing  but  dig  a  little  hole,  after 
which  the  devil  had  put  in  it  certain 
things  unknown  to  her.  From  this  it 
is  concluded  that  the  witch  co-operates 
sufficiently  if  it  is  only  by  a  touch  or  a 
look ;  for  the  devil  is  permitted  no 
power  of  injuring  creatures  without  / 
some  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  J 
witch,  as  has  been  shown  before.  And 
this  is  for  the  great  offence  to  the 
Divine  Majesty. 

For  shepherds  have  often  seen 
animals  in  the  fields  give  three  or  four 
jumps  into  the  air,  and  then  suddenly 
fall  to  the  ground  and  die;  and  this 
is  caused  by  the  power  of  witches  at  J , 
the  instance  of  the  devil. 

In  the  diocese  of  Strasburg,  between 
the  town  of  Fiessen  and  Mount  Ferrer, 
a  certain  very  rich  man  affirmed  that 
more  than  forty  oxen  and  cows  belong¬ 
ing  to  him  and  others  had  been  be¬ 
witched  in  the  Alps  within  the  space  of 
one  year,  and  that  there  had  been  no 
natural  plague  or  sickness  to  cause  it. 
To  prove  this,  he  said  that  when 


i47 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  15  MALEFICARUM 


cattle  die  from  some  chance  plague  or 
disease,  they  do  not  do  so  all  at  once, 
but  by  degrees ;  but  that  this  witchcraft 
had  suddenly  taken  all  the  strength 
from  them,  and  therefore  everyone 
judged  that  they  had  been  killed  by 
witchcraft.  I  have  said  .forty  head  of 
cattle,  but  I  believe  he  put  the  number 
higher  than  that.  However,  it  is  very 
true  that  many  cattle  are  said  to  have 
been  bewitched  in  some  districts, 
especially  in  the  Alps ;  and  it  is  known 
that  this  form  of  witchcraft  is  un¬ 
happily  most  widespread.  We  shall 
consider  some  similar  cases  later,  in 
the  chapter  where  we  discuss  the 
remedies  for  cattle  that  have  been 
bewitched. 

CHAPTER  XV 

How  they  Raise  and. Stir  up  Hailstorms  and 
Tempests ,  and  Cause  Lightning  to  Blast 
both  Men  and  Beasts. 

THAT  devils  and  their  disciples 
can  by  witchcraft  cause  lightnings 
and  hailstorms  and  tempests,  and  that 
the  devils  have  power  from  God  to  do 
this,  and  their  disciples  do  so  with 
God’s  permission,  is  proved  by  Holy 
Scripture  in  Job  i  and  ii.  For  the 
devil  received  power  from  God,  and 
immediately  caused  it  to  happen  that 
the  Sabeans  took  away  from  Job  fifty 
yoke  of  oxen  and  five  hundred  asses, 
and  then  fire  came  from  heaven  and 
consumed  seven  thousand  camels,  and 
a  great  wind  came  and  smote  down 
the  house,  killing  his  seven  sons  and 
his  three  daughters,  and  all  the  young 
men,  that  is  to  say,  the  servants,  except 
him  who  brought  the  news,  were  killed ; 
and  finally  the  devil  smote  the  body  of 
the  holy  man  with  the  most  terrible 
sores,  and  caused  his  wife  and  his  three 
friends  to  vex  him  grievously. 

S.  Thomas  in  his  commentary  on 
Job  says  as  follows :  It  must  be  con¬ 
fessed  that,  with  God’s  permission,  the 
devils  can  disturb  the  air,  raise  up 
winds,  and  make  the  fire  fall  from 
heaven.  For  although,  in  the  matter 
of  taking  various  shapes,  corporeal 
nature  is  not  at  the  command  of  any 
Angel,  either  good  or  bad,  but  only  at 
that  of  God  the  Creator,  yet  in  the 
matter  of  local  motion  corporeal  nature 
has  to  obey  the  spiritual  nature.  And 


this  truth  is  clearly  exemplified  in 
man  himself;  for  at  the  mere  command 
of  the  will,  which  exists  subjectively  in 
the  soul,  the  limbs  are  moved  to 
perform  that  which  they  have  been 
willed  to  do.  Therefore  whatever  can 
be  accomplished  by  mere  local  motion, 
this  not  only  good  but  also  bad  spirits 
can  by  their  natural  power  accomplish, 
unless  God  should  forbid  it.  But  winds 
and  rain  and  other  similar  disturbances 
of  the  air  can  be  caused  by  the  mere 
movement  of  vapours  released  from  the 
earth  or  the  water ;  therefore  the 
natural  power  of  devils  is  sufficient  to 
cause  such  things.  So  says  S.  Thomas. 

For  God  in  His  justice  using  the 
devils  as  his  agents  of  punishment 
inflicts  the  evils  which  come  to  us  who 
live  in  this  world.  Therefore,  with 
reference  to  that  in  the  Psalms:  “He 
called  a  famine  on  the  land,  and  wasted 
all  their  substance  of  bread” ;  the  gloss 
says :  God  allowed  this  evil  to  be  caused 
by  the  bad  Angels  who  are  in  charge  of 
such  matters ;  and  by  famine  is  meant 
the  Angel  in  charge  of  famine. 

We  refer  the  reader  also  to  what  has 
been  written  above  on  the  question 
as  to  whether  witches  must  always  have 
the  devil’s  help  to  aid  them  in  their 
works,  and  concerning  the  three  kinds 
of  harm  which  the  devils  at  times 
inflict  without  the  agency  of  a  witch. 
But  the  devils  are  more  eager  to  injure 
men  with  the  help  of  a  witch,  since 
in  this  way  God  is  the  more  offended, 
and  greater  power  is  given  to  them  to 
torment  and  punish. 

And  relevant  to  this  subject  is  what 
the  Doctors  have  written  in  the  Second 
Book  of  Sentences ,  dist.  6,  on  the  question 
whether  there  is  a  special  place  assigned 
to  the  bad  Angels  in  the  clouds  of  the 
air.  For  in'  devils  there  are  three  things 
to  be  considered — their  nature,  their 
duty  and  their  sin ;  and  by  nature  they 
belong  to  the  empyrean  of  heaven, 
through  sin  to  the  lower  hell,  but  by 
reason  of  the  duty  assigned  to  them,  as 
we  have  said,  as  ministers  of  punish¬ 
ment  to  the  wicked  and  trial  to  the 
good,  their  place  is  in  the  clouds  of  the 
air.  For  they  do  not  dwell  here  with  us 
on  the  earth  lest  they  should  plague 
us  too  much ;  but  in  the  air  and  around 
the  fiery  sphere  they  can  so  bring 
together  the  active  and  passive  agents 
that,  when  God  permits,  they  can 
bring  down  fire  and  lightning  from 
heaven. 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  15 


148 


A  story  is  told  in  the  Fornicarius* *  of  a 
certain  man  who  had  been  taken,  and 
was  asked  by  the  judge  how  they  went 
about  to  raise  up  hailstorms  and 
tempests,  and  whether  it  was  easy 
for  them  to  do  so.  He  answered:  We 
can  easily  cause  hailstorms,  but  we 
cannot  do  all  the  harm  that  we  wish, 
because  of  the  guardianship  of  good 
Angels.  And  he  added:  We  can  only 
injure  those  who  are  deprived  of  God’s 
help;  but  we  cannot  hurt  those  who 
make  the  sign  of  the  Cross.  And  this  is 
how  we  go  to  work :  first  we  use  certain 
words  in  the  fields  to  implore  the  chief 
of  the 'devils  to  send  one  of  his  servants 
to  strike  the  man  whom  we  name. 
Then,  when  the  devil  has  come,  we 
sacrifice  to  him  a  Hack  cock  at  two 
cross-roads, t  throwing  it  up  into  the 
air  ;  and  when  the  devil  has  received 
this,  he  performs  our  wish  and  stirs  up 
the  air,  but  not  always  in  the  places 
which  we  have  named,  and, -according 
"toHthe  permission  of  the~  living  God, 
sends  down  hailstorms  and  lightnings. 

In  the  same  work  we  hear  of  a 
certain  leader  or  heresiarch  of  witches 
named  Staufer,J  who  lived  in  Berne 
and  the  adjacent  country,  and  used 
publicly  to  boast  that,  whenever  he 
liked,  he  could  change  himself  into  a 
mouse  in  the  sight  of  his  rivals  and 
slip  through  the  hands  of  his  deadly 
enemies ;  and  that  he  had  often  escaped 
from  the  hands  of  his  mortal  foes  in 
this  manner.  But  when  the  Divine 
justice  wished  to  put  an  end  to  his 
wickedness,  some  of  his  enemies  lay 
in  wait  for  him  cautiously  and  saw 
him  sitting  in  a  basket  near  a  window, 


*  “ Formicarius ,”  Chap.  Hi. 

I  “ Cross-Roads .”  In  the  trial  of  Dame  Alice 
Kyteler  of  Kilkenny ,  1324,  it  was  shown  that 
she  had  sacrificed  at  the  cross-roads  live  animals 
(Holinshed  says  nine  red  cocks )  to  her  familiar, 
Robert  Artisson,  “ qui  se  facit  appellari  Artis 
Filium In  Greek  tradition  the  xepxeo7rts,  a 
poltergeist ,  haunted  the  cross-ways.  Lemoine , 
VI,  p.  iog ,  tells  us:  ilCelui  qui  veut  devenir 
sorcier  doit  aller  a  un  ‘  quatre  chemins  ’  avec  une 
‘  poule  noire,  ’  ou  bien  encore  au  lcimetiere sur  une 

*  tombe ’  et  toujour s  a  ‘  minuit .’  II  vient  alors  quel- 
qrjLun  qui  demande:  lQue  venez-vous  faire  ici ?’ 
‘J'ai  une  poule  d  vendre,’  repond-on.  Ce  quel- 
qu’un  ( est )  le  Mechant .” 

I  “ Staufer .”  Staufus.  “ Formicarius Chap, 
iii.  The  edition  Frankfort,  1588,  Vol.  I,  p.  722, 
reads  “ Scavius  ”  and  in  the  margin  “ Schasius .” 
{Marginal  note:  “De  Schasio  in  murem  se 
conuertente .”) 


and  suddenly  pierced  him  through 
with  swords  and  spears,  so  that  he 
miserably  died  for  his  crimes.  Yet  he 
left  behind  him  a  disciple,  named 
Hoppo,  who  had  also  for  his  master 
that  Stadlin  whom  we  have  mentioned 
before  in  the  sixth  chapter. 

These  two  could,  whenever  they/ 
pleased,  cause  the  third  part  of  the; 
manure  or  straw  or  corn  to  pass 
invisibly  from  a  neighbour’s  field  to, 
their  own;  they  could  raise  the  most! 
violent  hailstorms  and  destructive  winds 
and  lightning ;  could  cast  into  the 
water  in  the  sight  of  their  parents 
children  walking  by  the  water-side, 
when  there  was  no  one  else  in  sight  ; 
could  cause  barrenness  in  men  and. 
animals;  could  reveal  hidden  things  to 
others;  could  in  many  ways  injure? 
men  in  their  affairs  or  their  bodies; 
could  at  times  kill  whom  they  would 
by  lightning;  and  could  cause  many  \ 
other  plagues,  when  and  where  the 
justice  of  God  permitted  such  things 
to  be  done. 

It  is  better  to  add  an  instance  which 
came  within  our  own  experience.  For 
in  the  diocese  of  Constance,  twenty- 
eight  German  miles  from  the  town  of 
Ratisbon  in  the  direction  of  Salzburg, 
a  violent  hailstorm  destroyed  all  the 
fruit,  crops  and  vineyards  in  a  belt  one 
mile  wide,  so  that  the  vines  hardly 
bore  fruit  for  three  years.  This  was 
brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Inquisition, 
since  the  people  clamoured  for  an 
inquiry  to  be  held ;  r  lany  beside  all  the 
townsmen  being  of  the  opinion  that  it 
was  caused  by  witchcraft.  Accordingly 
it  was  agreed  after  fifteen  days’  formal 
deliberation  that  it  was  a  case  of  witch¬ 
craft  for  us  to  consider;  and  among  a*, 
large  number  of  suspects,  we  par¬ 
ticularly  examined  two  women,  one 
named  Agnes,  a  bath-woman,  and  the 
other  Anna  von  Mindelheim.  These  two 
were  taken  and  shut  up  separately  in 
different  prisons,  neither  of  them  know¬ 
ing  in  the  least  what  had  happened  to 
the  other.  On  the  following  day  the  ; 
bath-woman  was  very  gently  questioned  ( 
in  the  presence  of  a  notary  by  the  chief  I 
magistrate,  a  justice  named  Gelre  very  ■ 
zealous  for  the  Faith,  and  by  the  other 
magistrates  with  him;  and  although 
she  was  undoubtedly  well  provided 
with  that  evil  gift  of  silence  which  is 
the  constant  bane  of  judges,  and  at  the 
first  trial  affirmed  that  she  was  innocent 
of  any  crime  against  man  or  woman ; 


149 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  15  MALEFICARUM 


yet,  in  the  Divine  mercy  that  so  great  a 
crime  should  not  pass  unpunished, 
suddenly,  when  she  had  been  freed  from 
her  chains,  although  it  was  in  the 
torture  chamber,  she  fully  laid  bare  all 
IKFTnm^^^ich  she  had  committed. 
For  when  she  was  questioned  by  the 
Notary  of  the  Inquisition  upon  the 
accusations  which  had  been  brought 
against  her  of  harm  done  to  men  and 
cattle,  by  reason  of  which  she  had  been 
gravely  suspected  of  being  a  witch, 
although  there  had  been  no  witness  to 
prove  that  she  had  abjured  the  Faith 
or  performed  coitus  with  an  Incubus 
devil  (for  she  had  been  most  secret) ; 
nevertheless,  after  she  had  confessed 
to  the  harm  which  she  had  caused  to 
animals  and  men,  she  acknowledged 
also  all  that  she  was  asked  concerning 
the  abjuration  of  the  Faith,  and  copula¬ 
tion  committed  with  an  Incubus  devil ; 
saying  that  for  more  than  eighteen 
years  she  had  given  her  body  to  an 
Incubus  devil,  with  a  complete 
abnegation  of  the  Fajth. 

After  this  she  was  asked  whether  she 
knew  anything  about  the  hailstorm 
which  we  have  mentioned,  and  answered 
that  she  did.  And,  being  asked  how  and 
in  what  way,  she  answered:  “I  was 
in  my  house,  and  at  midday  a  familiar 
came  to  me  and  told  me  to  go  with  a 
little  water  on  to  the  field  or  plain  of 
Kuppel  (for  so  is  it  named).  And 
when  I  asked  what  he  wanted  to  do 
with  the  water,  he  said  that  he  wanted 
to  make  it  rain.  So  I  went  out  at  the 
town  gate,  and  found  the  devil  standing 
under  a  tree.”  The  judge  asked  her, 
under  which  tree;  and  she  said, 
“Under  that  one  opposite  that  tower,” 
pointing  it  out.  Asked  what  she  did 
under  the  tree,  she  said,  “The  devil 
told  me  to  dig  a  little  hole  and  pour 
the  water  into  it.”  Asked  whether  they 
sat  down  together,  she  said,  “I  sat 
down,  but  the  devil  stood  up.”  Then 
she  was  asked,  with  what  words  and 
in  what  manner  she  had  stirred  the 
water;  and  she  answered,  “I  stirred 
it  with  my  finger,  and  called  on  the 
name  of  the  devil  himself  and  all  the 
other  devils.”  Again  the  judge  asked 
what  was  done  with  the  water,  and  she 
answered :  “It  disappeared,  and  the 
devil  took  it  up  into  the  air.”  Then 
she  was  asked  if  she  had  any  associate, 
and  answered:  “Under  another  tree 
opposite  I  had  a  companion  (naming 
the  other  captured  witch,  Anna  von 


Miflddheim),  but  I  do  not  know  what 
she  diJ^Tinally,  the  bath-woman  was 
asked  how  long  it  was  between  the 
taking  up  of  the  water  and  the  hail¬ 
storm  ;  and  she  answered :  “There  was 
just  sufficient  interval  of  time  to  allow 
me  to  get  back  to  my  house.” 

But  (and  this  is  remarkable)  when 
on  the  next  day  the  other  witch  had  at 
first  been  exposed  to  the  very  gentlest 
questions,  being  suspended  hardly  clear 
of  the  ground  by  her  thumbs,  after 
she  had  been  set  quite  free,  she  dis¬ 
closed  the  whole  matter  without  the 
slightest  discrepancy  from  what  the 
other  had  told;  agreeing  as  to  the 
place,  that  it  was  under  such  a  tree  and 
the  other  had  been  under  another ;  as  to 
the  time,  that  it  was  at  midday;  as  to 
the  method,  namely,  of  stirring  water 
poured  into  a  hole  in  the  name  of  the 
devil  and  all  the  devils;  and  as  to  the 
interval  of  time,  that  the  hailstorm  had 
come  after  her  devil  had  taken  the 
water  up  into  the  air  and  she  had 
returned  home.  Accordingly,  on  the 
lav  they  were  burned.  And  the 


11 


I 


bath-woman  was  contrite  and  con¬ 
fessed,  and  commended  herself  to  God, 
saying  that  she  would  die  with  a  willing 
heart  if  she  could  escape  the  tortures 
of  the  devil,  and  held  in  her  hand  a 
cross  which  she  kissed.  But  the  other 
witch  scorned  her  tor  doing  so-  And 
this  one  had  consorted  with  an  Incubus 
devil  for  more  than  twenty  years  with 
a  complete  abjuration  of  the  Faith, 
and  had  done  far  more  harm  than  the 
former  witch  to  men,  cattle  and  the 
fruits  of  the  earth,  as  is  shown  in  the 
preserved  record  of  their  trial. 

These  instances  must  serve,  since 
indeed  countless  examples  of  this  sort 
of  mischief  could  be  recounted.  But 
very  often  men  and  beasts  and  store¬ 
houses  are  struck  by  lightning  by  the 
power  of  devils;  and  the  cause  of  this 
seems  to  be  more  hidden  and  ambiguous, 
since  it  often  appears  to  happen  by 
Divine  permission  without  the  co¬ 
operation  of  any  witch.  However,  it 
has  been  found  that  witches  have  freely 
confessed  that  they  have  done  such 
things,  and  there  are  various  known 
instances  of  it,  which  could  be  men¬ 
tioned,  in  addition  to  what  has  already 
been  said.  Therefore  it  is  reasonable  tot 
conclude  that,  just  as  easily  as  they 
raise  hailstorms,  so  can  they  cause 
lightning  and  storms  at  sea ;  and  so  no 
doubt  at  all  remains  on  these  points. 


150 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  16 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Of  Three  Ways  in  which  Men  and  not 
Women  may  be  Discovered  to  be  Addicted 
to  Witchcraft :  Divided  into  Three 
Heads :  and  First  of  the  Witchcraft 
of  Archers. 

FOR  our  present  purpose  the  last 
class  of  witchcraft  is  that  which 
is  practised  in  three  forms  by  men; 
and  first  we  must  consider  the  seven 
deadly  and  horrible  crimes  which  are 
committed  by  wizards  who  are  archers. 
For  first,  on  the  Sacred  Day  of  the 
Passion  of  Our  Lord,  that  is  to  say, 
on  Good  Friday,  as  it  is  called,  during 
the  solemnization  of  the  Mass  of  the 
Presanctified  they  shoot  with  arrows,  as 
at  a  target,  at  the  most  sacred  image 
of  the  Crucifix.  Oh,  the  cruelty  and 
injury  to  the  Saviour !  Secondly,  though 
there  is  some  doubt  whether  they  have 
to  utter  a  verbal  form  of  apostasy 
to  the  devil  in  addition  to  that  apostasy 
of  deed,  yet  whether  it  be  so  or  not,  no 
greater  injury  to  the  Faith  can  be  done 
by  a  Christian.  For  it  is  certain  that, 
if  such  things  were  done  by  an  infidel, 
they  would  be  of  no  efficacy;  for  no 
such  easy  method  of  gratifying  their 
hostility  to  the  Faith  is  granted  to 
them.  Therefore  these  wretches  ought 
to  consider  the  truth  and  power  of  the 
Catholic  Faith,  for  the  confirmation  of 
which  God  justly  permits  such  crimes. 

Thirdly,  such  an  archer  has  to  shoot 
three  or  four  arrows  in  this  way,  and  as 
a  consequence  he  is  able  to  kill  on  any 
day  just  the  same  number  of  men. 
Fourthly,  they  have  the  following 
assurance  from  the  devil;  that  though 
they  must  first  actually  set  eyes  on  the 
man  they  wish  to  kill,  and  must  bend 
their  whole  will  on  killing  him,  yet  it 
matters  not  where  the  man  may  shut 
himself  up,  for  he  cannot  be  protected, 
but  the  arrows  which  have  been  shot 
will  be  carried  and  struck  into  him  by 
the  devil. 

Fifthly,  they  can  shoot  an  arrow* 
with  such  precision  as  to  shoot  a  penny 


*  “ Shoot  an  Arrow.”  This  old  tradition  was 
made  the  subject  of  the  celebrated  opera  “ Der 
Freischutz,”  the  libretto  of  which  is  by  Kind,  the 
music  by  Weber.  It  was  originally  produced  at 
Berlin  in  1821,  and  on  22  July,  1824,  first  per¬ 
formed  in  England  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre, 
London,  as  “Der  Freischutz;  or,  The  Seventh 
Bullet.” 


from  a  person’s  head  without  hurting 
his  head,  and  they  can  continue  to  do 
this  indefinitely.  Sixthly,  in  order  to 
gain  this  power  they  have  to  offer 
homage  of  body  and  soul  to  the  devil. 

We  shall  give  some  instances  of  this 
sort  of  practice. 

For  a  certain  prince  of  the  Rhineland, 
named  Eberhard  Longbeard  because 
he  let  his  beard  grow,  had,  before  he  was 
sixty  years  old,  acquired  for  himself 
some  of  the  Imperial  territory,  and  was 
besieging  a  certain  castle  named  Lenden- 
brunnen  because  of  the  raids  which 
were  made  by  the  men  of  the  castle. 
And  he  had  in  his  company  a  wizard 
of  this  sort,  named  Puncker,  who  so 
molested  the  men  of  the  castle  that 
he  killed  them  all  in  succession  with 
his  arrows,  except  one.  And  this  is 
how  he  proceeded.  Whenever  he  had 
looked  at  a  man,  it  did  not  matter 
where  that  man  went  to  or  hid  himself, 
he  had  only  to  loose  an  arrow  and  that 
man  was  mortally  wounded  and  killed ; 
and  he  was  able  to  shoot  three  such 
arrows  every  day  because  he  had 
shot  three  arrows  at  the  image  of  the  H 
Saviour.  It  is  probable  that  the  devilx|  v. 
favours  tffe  "number  t'hree  more  ThSn  W 
any  other,  because  it  represents  aft'  ^ 
effective  denial  of  the  Holy  Trinky. 

But  after  he  had  shot  those  three 
arrows,  he  could  only  shoot  with  the 
same  uncertainty  as  other  men.  At 
last  one  of  the  men  of  the  castle  called 
out  to  him  mockingly,  “Puncker,  will 
you  not  at  least  spare  the  ring  which 
hangs  in  the  gate?”  And  he  answered 
from  outside  in  the  night,  “No;  I  shall 
take  it  away  on  the  day  that  the  casde 
captured.”  And  he  fulfilled  his 


is 


promise :  for  when,  as  has  been  said,  all 
were  killed  except  one,  and  the  castle 
had  been  taken,  he  took  that  ring  and 
hung  it  in  his  own  house  at  Rorbach 
in  the  diocese  of  Worms,  where  it  can 
be  seen  hanging  to  this  day.  But 
afterwards  he  was  one  night  killed  with 
their  spades  by  some  peasants  whom  he 
had  injured,  and  he  perished  in  his  sins. 

It  is  told  also  of  this  man,  that  a  very 
eminent  person  wished  to  have  proof 
of  his  skill,  and  for  a  test  placed  his 
little  son  before  the  target  with  a 
penny  on  his  cap,  and  ordered  him  to 

c  nrvrvf  t  T»  c.r->rv»r  *-%  T  a  r  o  r  a  m  /m  *  4- 


I"»  vliiJt  J  v/il  HU  ClllCi  v/1  v-1  v_. X  L-vA  111111  LU  , 

shoot  the  penny  away  without  removing  *  v 
the  cap.  The  wizard  said  that  he 
would  do  it,  but  with  reluctance ;  for  he 
would  rather  have  refrained,  not  being  J 
sure  whether  the  devil  was  seducing  him 


?V#>  f  f 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  16  MALEFICARUM 


to  his  death.  But,  yielding  to  the  per¬ 
suasions  of  the  prince,  he  placed  one 
arrow  in  readiness  in  the  cord  which 
was  slung  over  his  shoulder,  fitted 
another  to  his  bow,  and  shot  the 
penny  from  the  cap  without  hurting 
the  boy.  Seeing  this,  the  prince  asked 
him  why  he  had  placed  the  arrow  in 
that  cord ;  and  he  answered :  “If  I  had 
been  deceived  by  the  devil  and  had 
killed  my  son,  since  I  should  have  had 
to  die  I  would  quickly  have  shot  you 
with  the  other  arrow  to  avenge  my 
death.” 

And  though  such  wickedness  is  per¬ 
mitted  by  God  for  the  proving  and 
chastisement  of  the  faithful,  nevertheless 
more  powerful  miracles  are  performed 
by  the  Saviour’s  mercy  for  the  strength¬ 
ening  and  glory  of  the  Faith. 

For  in  the  diocese  of  Constance,  near 
the  castle  of  Hohenzorn  and  a  convent 
of  nuns,  there  is  a  newly-built  church 
where  may  be  seen  an  image  of  Our 
Saviour  pierced  with  an  arrow  and 
bleeding.  And  the  truth  of  this  miracle 

o 

is  shown  as  follows.  A  miserable  wretch 
who  wished  to  be  assured  by  the  devil 
of  having  three  or  four  arrows  with 
which  he  could,  in  the  manner  we  have 
told,  kill  whom  he  pleased,  shot  and 
pierced  with  an  arrow  (just  as  it  is 
still  seen)  a  certain  Crucifix  at  a  cross¬ 
road  ;  and  when  it  miraculously  began 
to  bleed,*  the  wretch  was  struck  motion- 

*  “ Began  to  Bleed.”  On  29  May,  1187 ,  a 
number  of  mercenaries  and  bandits  were  playing 
with  diet  before  the  door  of  the  church  at  Deols. 
One  of  these  fellows,  who  had  lost  a  throw, 
cursing  and  swearing,  took  up  a  stone ,  which  he 
flung  at  the  figure  of  Our  Lady  with  the  Child 
over  the  sacred  portal.  The  arm  of  the  Infant 
JESUS  was  snapped  in  twain.  ‘  ‘A  stream  of  blood 
poured  from  the  arm  of  the  broken  image  and 
made  a  pool  on  the  earth  below.  The  wretch  who 
flung  the  stone  was  seized  with  madness,  and 
dropped  down  dead  upon  the  spot.”  The  blood 
was  carefully  collected  in  a  phial  which  was 
deposited  in  an  Oratory  dedicated  to  Our  Lady. 
Numberless  cures  were  effected,  and  a  Confrater¬ 
nity  which  was  founded  in  honour  of  the  miracle 
flourished  until  the  Revolution.  It  was  re¬ 
organized  in  1830,  and  on  31  May  there  is  a 
solemn  Commemoration  of  the  Blood-shedding  of 
Notre  Dame  de  Deols. 

After  S.  Paul  of  the  Cross  (1694-1775)  had 
preached  for  the  last  time  in  the  church  of 
Piagaro,  a  Crucifix  over  one  of  the  side-altars  was 
seen  to  be  oozing  with  blood.  Hundreds  wit¬ 
nessed  the  miracle,  and  later  a  chapel  was  built 
to  enshrine  the  Miraculous  Cross.  In  1630  at 
Spoleto,  drops  of  blood  flowed  from  the  head  of 


I5I 

less  in  his  steps  by  Divine  power.  And 
when  he  was  asked  by  a  passer-by  why 
he  stood  fixed  there,  he  shook  his  head, 
and  trembling  in  his  arms  and  his  hands, 
in  which  he  held  the  bow,  and  all  over 
his  body,  could  answer  nothing.  So 
the  other  looked  about  him,  and  saw 
the  Crucifix  with  the  arrow  and  the 
blood,  and  said:  “You  villain,  you 
have  pierced  the  image  of  Our  Lord !” 
And  calling  some  others,  he  told  them  to 
see  that  he  did  not  escape  (although,  as 
has  been  said,  he  could  not  move) ,  and 
ran  to  the  castle  and  told  what  had 
happened.  And  they  came  down  and 
found  the  wretched  man  in  the  same 
place;  and  when  they  had  questioned 
him,  and  he  had  confessed  his  crime, 
he  was  removed  from  that  district  by 
public  justice,  and  suffered  a  miserable 
death  in  merited  expiation  of  his  deeds. 

But,  alas !  how  horrible  it  is  to  think 
that  human  perversity  is  not  afraid 
to  countenance  such  crimes.  For  it  is 
said  that  in  the  halls  of  the  great  such 
men  are  maintained  to  glory  in  their 
crimes  in  open  contempt  of  the  Faith, 
to  the  heavy  offence  of  the  Divine 
Majesty,  and  in  scorn  of  Our  Redeemer ; 
and  are  permitted  to  boast  of  their 
deeds. 

Wherefore  such  protectors,  defenders 
and  patrons  are  to  be  judged  not  only 
heretics,  but  even  apostates  from  the 
Faith,  and  are  to  be  punished  in  the 
manner  that  will  be  told.  And  this 
is  the  seventh  deadly  sin  of  these 
wizards.  For  first  they  are  by  very 
law  excommunicated ;  and  if  the 
patrons  are  clerics  they  are  degraded 
and  deprived  of  all  office  and  benefit, 
nor  can  they  be  restored  except  by  a 
special  indulgence  from  the  Apostolic 
See.  Also,  if  after  their  proscription 
such  protectors  remain  obstinate  in 
their  excommunication  for  the  period 
of  a  year,  they  are  to  be  condemned  as 
heretics. 

This  is  in  accordance  with  the 
Canon  Law ;  for,  in  Book  VI,  it  touches 
on  the  question  of  direct  or  indirect 
interference  with  the  proceedings  of 
Diocesans  and  Inquisitors  in  the  cause 

a  figure  of  Our  Lord  Crowned  with  Thorns. 
Even  in  this  unbelieving  age  the  Most  Holy 
Crucifix  of  Limpias,  El  Santo  Cristo  de  la 
Agonia,  sweats  blood,  whilst  tears  have  been 
observed  in  the  eyes,  which  turn  from  side  to  side, 
and  the  head  sometimes  moves  as  in  all  the 
weariness  of  bitter  pain.  Very  many  other 
instances  of  similar  miracles  might  be  cited. 


152 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Gh.  16 


of  the  Faith,  and  mentions  the  aforesaid 
punishment  to  be  inflicted  after  a 
year.  For  it  says :  We  forbid  any  inter¬ 
ference  from  Potentates,  temporal  Lords 
and  Rulers,  and  their  Officials,  etc. 
Anyone  may  refer  to  the  chapter. 

And  further,  that  witches  and  their 
protectors  are  by  very  law  to  be  excom¬ 
municated  is  shown  in  the  Canon  of  the 
suppressing  of  the  heresy  of  witchcraft ; 
especially  where  it  says:  We  excom¬ 
municate  and  anathematize  all  heretics, 
Catharists,  Sectaries  .  .  .  and  others, 
by  whatever  names  they  are  known,  etc. 
And  with  these  it  includes  all  their 
sympathizers  and  protectors,  and  others ; 
saying  later  on;  Also  we  excommuni¬ 
cate  all  followers,  protectors,  defenders 
and  patrons  of  such  heretics. 

The  Canon  Law  prescribes  various 
penalties  which  are  incurred  within  the 
space  of  a  year  by  such  heretics, 
whether  laymen  or  clerics,  where  it 
says :  We  place  under  the  ban  of  excom¬ 
munication  all  their  protectors,  patrons 
and  defenders,  so  that  when  any  such 
has  been  so  sentenced  and  has  scorned 
to  recant  his  heresy,  within  a  year 
from  that  time  he  shall  be  considered 
an  outlaw,  and  shall  not  be  admitted 
to  any  office  or  council,  nor  be  able 
to  vote  in  the  election  of  such  officers, 
nor  be  allowed  to  give  evidence;  he  is 
not  to  be  called  as  a  witness,  or  to 
be  allowed  free  opportunity  of  giving 
evidence ;  he  shall  not  succeed  to  any 
inheritance,  and  no  one  shall  be  held 
responsible  for  any  business  transaction 
with  him.  If  he  be  a  judge,  his  judge¬ 
ment  shall  not  stand,  nor  shall  any 
case  be  brought  to  his  hearing.  If  he 
be  an  advocate,  he  shall  not  be  allowed 
to  plead.  If  he  be  a  notary,  no  instru¬ 
ment  drawn  up  by  him  shall  have  any 
weight,  but  is  to  be  condemned  together 
with  its  condemned  author ;  and  similar 
penalties  are  decreed  for  the  holders 
of  other  offices.  But  if  he  be  a  cleric, 
he  is  to  be  degraded  from  all  office  and 
benefice ;  for,  his  guilt  being  the  greater, 
it  is  more  heavily  avenged.  And  if  any 
such,  after  they  have  been  marked 
down  by  the  Church,  contemptuously 
try  to  ignore  their  punishment,  the 
sentence  of  excommunication  is  to 
be  rigorously  applied  to  them  to  the 
extreme  limits  of  vengeance.  And  the 
clergy  shall  not  administer  the  Sacra¬ 
ments  of  the  Church  to  such  heretics, 
nor  presume  to  give  them  Christian 
burial,  nor  accept  their  alms  and 


oblations,  on  pain  of  being  deprived 
of  their  office,  to  which  they  can  in 
no  way  be  restored  without  a  special 
indulgence  from  the  Apostolic  See. 

There  are,  finally,  many  other 
penalties  incurred  by  such  heretics  even 
when  they  do  not  persist  in  their 
obstinacy  for  a  year,  and  also  by  their 
children  and  grandchildren:  for  they 
can  be  degraded  by  a  Bishop  or  by  an 
Inquisitor,  declared  deprived  of  all 
titles,  possessions,  honours  and  ecclesias¬ 
tical  benefits,  in  fine  of  all  public 
offices  whatsoever.  But  this  is  only 
when  they  are  persistently  and  obstin¬ 
ately  impenitent.  Also  their  sons  to 
the  second  generation  may  be  dis¬ 
qualified  and  unable  to  obtain  either 
ecclesiastical  preferment  or  public 
office ;  but  this  is  to  be  understood  only 
of  the  descendants  on  the  father’s  side, 
and  not  on  the  mother’s,  and  only 
of  those  who  are  impenitent.  Also  all 
their  followers,  protectors,  fautors  and 
patrons  shall  be  denied  all  right  of 
petition  or  appeal ;  and  this  is  explained 
as  meaning  that,  after  a  verdict  has  been 
returned  that  they  are  such  heretics, 
then  can  they  make  no  appeal  before 
their  sentence,  however  much  they  may 
have  been  in  any  respect  ill-used  or 
treated  with  undue  severity.  Much  more 
could  be  adduced  in  support  of  our 
standpoint,  but  this  is  sufficient. 

Now  for  the  better  understanding  of 
what  has  been  said,  some  few  points 
are  to  be  discussed.  And  first,  if  a 
prince  or  secular  potentate  employ  such 
a  wizard  as  we  have  described  for  the 
destruction  of  some  castle  in  a  just 
war,  and  with  his  help  crushes  the 
tyranny  of  wicked  men;  is  his  whole 
army  to  be  considered  as  protectors  and 
patrons  of  that  wizard,  and  to  be 
subjected  to  the  penalties  we  have 
mentioned?  The  answer  seems  to  be 
that  the  rigour  of  justice  must  be 
tempered  on  account  of  their  numbers. 
For  the  leader,  with  his  counsellors  and 
advisers,  must  be  considered  to  have 
aided  and  abetted  such  witchcraft, 
and  they  are  by  law  implicated  in  the 
aforesaid  penalties  when,  after  being 
warned  by  their  spiritual  advisers, 
they  have  persisted  in  their  bad  course ; 
and  then  they  are  to  be  judged  pro¬ 
tectors  and  patrons,  and  are  to  be 
punished.  But  the  rest  of  the  army, 
since  they  have  no  part  in  their  leaders’ 
council,  but  are  simply  prepared  to 
risk  their  lives  in  defence  of  their 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  16  MALEFICARUM 


I53 


country,  although  they  may  view  with 
approval  the  feats  of  the  wizard, 
nevertheless  escape  the  sentence  of 
excommunication;  but  they  must  in 
their  confession  acknowledge  the  guilt 
of  the  wizard,  and  in  their  absolution 
by  the  confessor  must  receive  a  solemn 
warning  to  hold  all  such  practices  for 
ever  in  detestation,  and  as  far  as  they 
are  able  drive  from  their  land  all  such 
wizards. 

It  may  be  asked  by  whom  such 
princes  are  to  be  absolved  when  they 
come  to  their  senses,  whether  by  their 
own  spiritual  advisers  or  by  the 
Inquisitors?  We  answer  that,  if  they 
repent,  they  may  be  absolved  either 
by  their  spiritual  advisers,  or  by  the 
Inquisitors.  This  is  provided  in  the 
Canon  Law  concerning  the  proceedings 
to  be  taken,  in  the  fear  of  God  and  as 
a  warning  to  men,  against  heretics, 
their  followers,  protectors,  patrons  and 
fautors,  as  also  against  those  who  are 
accused  or  suspected  of  heresy.  But 
if  any  of  the  above,  forswearing  his 
former  lapse  into  heresy,  wish  to  return 
to  the  unity  of  the  Church,  he  may 
receive  the  benefit  of  absolution  pro¬ 
vided  by  Holy  Church. 

A  prince,  or  any  other,  may  be  said 
to  have  returned  to  his  senses  when  he 
has  delivered  up  the  wizard  to  be 
punished  for  his  offences  against  the 
Creator;  when  he  has  banished  from 
his  dominions  all  who  have  been  found 
guilty  of  witchcraft  or  heresy;  when 
he  is  truly  penitent  for  the  past;  and 
when,  as  becomes  a  Catholic  prince,  he 
is  firmly  determined  in  his  mind  not 
to  show  any  favour  to  any  other  such 
wizard. 

But  it  may  be  asked  to  whom  should 
such  a  man  be  surrendered,  in  what 
court  he  should  be  tried,  and  whether 
he  is  to  be  judged  as  one  openly 
apprehended  in  heresy  ?  The  first  diffi¬ 
culty  is  specially  dealt  with  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Third  Part ;  namely, 
whether  it  is  the  business  of  a  sectilar  or 
of  an  ecclesiastical  judge  to  punish 
such  men.  It  is  manifestly  stated  in 
the  Canon  Law  that  no  temporal 
magistrate  or  judge  is  competent  to 
try  a  case  of  heresy  without  a  licence 
from  the  Bishops  and  Inquisitors,  or 
at  least  under  the  hand  of  someone 
who  has  authority  from  them.  But 
when  it  says  that  the  secular  courts  have 
no  jurisdiction  in  this  matter  because 
the  crime  of  heresy  is  exclusively 

M 


ecclesiastical,  this  does  not  seem  to 
apply  to  the  case  of  witches;  for  the 
crimes  of  witches  are  not  exclusively 
ecclesiastical,  but  are  also  civil  on 
account  of  the  temporal  damage  which 
they  do.  Nevertheless,  as  will  be  shown 
later,  although  the  ecclesiastical  judge 
must  try  and  judge  the  case,  yet  it  is 
for  the  secular  judge  to  carry  out  the 
sentence  and  inflict  punishment,  as  is 
shown  in  the  chapters  of  the  Canon  on 
the  abolition  of  heresy,  and  on  excom¬ 
munication.  Wherefore,  even  if  he  does 
surrender  the  witch  to  the  Ordinary  to 
be  judged,  the  secular  judge  has  still 
the  power  of  punishing  him  after  he 
has  been  delivered  back  by  the  Bishop ; 
and  with  the  consent  of  the  Bishop,  the 
secular  judge  can  even  perform  both 
offices,  that  is,  he,  can  both  sentence 
and  punish. 

And  it  is  no  valid  objection  to  say 
that  such  wizards  are  rather  apostates 
than  heretics ;  for  both  these  are 
offenders  against  the  Faith ;  but  whereas 
a  heretic  is  only  in  some  partial  or 
total  doubt  with  regard  to  the  Faith, 
witchcraft  in  its  very  essence  implies 
apostasy  intent  from  the  Faith.  For  it 
is  a  heavier  sin  to  corrupt  the  Faith, 
which  is  the  life  of  the  soul,  than  to 
falsify  money,  which  is  a  prop  to  the 
life  of  the  body.  And  if  counterfeiters 
of  money,  and  other  malefactors,  are 
immediately  sentenced  to  death  by 
the  secular  courts,  how  much  more  just 
and  equitable  it  is  that  such  heretics 
and  apostates  should  be  immediately 
put  to  death  when  they  are  convicted. 

Here  we  have  also  answered  the 
second  difficulty,  namely,  by  what 
court  and  judge  such  men  are  to  be 
punished.  But  this  will  be  more  fully 
considered  in  the  Third  Part  of  this 
work,  where  we  treat  of  the  methods  of 
sentencing  the  offenders,  and  how  one 
taken  in  open  heresy  is  to  be  sentenced 
(see  the  eighth  and  twelfth  methods), 
and  of  the  question  whether  one  who  f  if 
becomes  penitent  is  still  to  be  put  to,  ? 
death. 

For  if  a  simple  heretic  constantly 
backslides  as  often  as  he  repents,  he 
is  to  be  put  to  death  according  to  the 
Canon  Law ;  and  this  is  reasonable 
according  to  S.  Thomas,  as  being  for 
the  general  good.  For  if  relapsed  here¬ 
tics  are  often  and  often  received  back 
and  allowed  to  live  and  keep  their 
temporal  goods,  it  might  prejudice  the 
salvation  of  others,  both  because  thev 


154 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  i.  Ch.  16 


might  infect  others  if  they  fell  again, 
and  because,  if  they  were  to  escape 
without  punishment,  others  would  have 
less  fear  in  being  infected  with  heresy; 
And  their  very  relapse  argues  that  they 
are  not  constant  in  the  Faith,  and  they 
are  therefore  justly  to  be  put  to  death. 
And  so  we  ought  to  say  here  that,  if  a 

fmere  suspicion  of  inconstancy  is  suffi- 
cT^nfwarrant  lor'aW^C^^SKtical  judge 
to  hand  over  such  a  backslider  to  the 
secular  court  to  be  put  to  death,  much 
more  must  he  Ho  so  rnmcTcase  of  one 
who  refuses  to  prove  his  penitence  and 
change  of  heart  by  handing  over  to  the 
secular  court  an  apostate  or  any  witch, 
but  rather  leaves  free  and  unchecked 
one  whom  the  secular  judge  wishes 
to  put  to  death  as  a  witch  according  to 
the  law,  on  account  of  the  temporal 
injuries  of  which  he  has  been  guilty. 
But  if  the  witch  is  penitent,  the  ecclesi¬ 
astical  judge  must  first  absolve  him 
from  the  excommunication  which  he 
has  incurred  because  of  the  heresy  of 
witchcraft.  Also  when  a  heretic  is 
penitent,  he  can  be  received  back 
into  the  bosom  of  the  Church  for  the 
salvation  of  his  soul.  This  matter  is 
further  discussed  in  the  First  Question 
of  the  Third  Part,  and  this  is  ample 
for  the  present.  Only  let  all  Rulers 
consider  how  strictly  and  minutely  they 
will  be  called  to  account  by  that 
terrible  Judge;  for  indeed  there  will 
be  a  very  severe  judgement  on  those 
in  authority  who  allow  such  wizards  to 
live  and  work  their  injuries  against  the 
Creator. 

The  other  two  classes  of  wizards 
belong  to  the  general  category  of  those 
who  can  use  incantations  and  sacri¬ 
legious  charms  so  as  to  render  certain 
weapons  incapable  of  harming  or 
wounding  them ;  and  these  are  divided 
into  two  kinds.  For  the  first  class 
resemble  the  archer-wizards  of  whom 
we  have  just  spoken,  in  that  they  also 
mutilate  the  image  of  Christ  crucified. 
For  example,  if  they  wish  their  head  to 
be  immune  from  any  wound  from  a 
weapon  or  from  any  blow,  they  take  off 
the  head  of  the  Crucifix;  if  they  wish 
their  neck  to  be  invulnerable,  they 
take  off  its  neck;  if  their  arm,  they 
take  off,  or  at  least  shorten,  the  arm, 
and  so  on.  And  sometimes  they  take 
away  all  above  the  waist,  or  below  it. 
And  in  proof  of  this,  hardly  one  in  ten 
of  the  Crucifixes  set  up  at  cross-roads 
or  in  the  fields  can  be  found  whole  and 


intact.  And  some  carry  the  limbs  thus 
broken  off  about  with  them,  and  others 
procure  their  invulnerability  by  means 
of  sacred  or  unknown  words :  therefore 
there  is  this  difference  between  them. 
The  first  sort  resemble  the  archer- 
wizards  in  their  contempt  of  the  Faith 
and  their  mutilation  of  the  image  of  the 
Saviour,  and  are  therefore  to  be  con¬ 
sidered  as  true  apostates,  and  so  must 
be  judged  when  they  are  taken ;  but  not 
to  the  same  degree  as  the  archers,  for 
it  is  manifest  that  they  do  not  approach 
them  in  wickedness.  For  they  seem 
only  to  act  for  the  protection  of  their 
own  bodies,  either  above  the  waist  or 
below  it,  or  of  the  whole  body.  There¬ 
fore  they  are  to  be  judged  as  penitent 
heretics  and  not  relapsed,  when  they 
have  been  convicted  as  wizards  and 
have  repented;  and  they  are  to  be 
imposed  a  penance  according  to  the 
eighth  manner,  with  solemn  adjuration 
afid  incarceration,  as  is  shown  in  the 
Third  Part  of  this  work. 

The  second  sort  can  magically  en¬ 
chant  weapons  so  that  they  can  walk 
on  them  with  bare  feet,  and  similar 
strange  feats  do  they  perform  (for 
according  to  S.  Isidore,  Etym.  VIII, 
enchanters  are  those  who  have  some 
skill  to  perform  wonders  by  means  of 
words).  And  there  is  a  distinction  to 
be  made  between  them ;  for  some  per¬ 
form  their  incantations  by  means  of 
sacred  words,  or  charms  written  up 
over  the  sick,  and  these  are  lawful 
provided  that  seven  conditions  are 
observed,  as  will  be  shown  later  where 
we  deal  with  the  methods  of  curing  those 
who  are  bewitched.  But  incantations 
made  over  weapons  by  certain  secret 
words,  or  cases  where  the  charms 
written  for  the  sick  have  been  taken 
down,  are  matters  for  the  judge’s 
attention.  For  when  they  use  words  of 
which  they  do  not  themselves  know 
the  meaning,  or  characters  and  signs 
which  are  not  the  sign  of  the  Gross, 
such  practices  are  altogether  to  be 
repudiated,  and  good  men  should 
beware  of  the  cruel  arts  of  these  war- 
locks.  And  if  they  will  not  desist  from 
such  deeds,  they  must  be  judged  as 
suspects  although  lightly,  and  the 
manner  of  sentencing  such  after  the 
second  method  will  be  shown  later. 
For  they  are  not  untainted  with  the  sin 
of  heresy;  for  deeds  of  this  kind  can 
only  be  done  with  the  help  of  the  devil, 
and,  as  we  have  shown,  he  who  uses 


Part  II.  Question  2.  MALEFICARUM 


155 


such  help  is  judged  to  be  an  apostate 
from  the  Faith.  Yet  on  the  plea  of 
ignorance  or  of  mending  their  ways 
they  may  be  dealt  with  more  leniently 
than  the  archer-wizards. 

It  is  most  commonly  found  that 
traders  and  merchants  are  in  the  habit 
of  carrying  about  them  such  charms 
and  runes ;  and  since  they  partake 
of  the  nature  of  incantations,  a  com¬ 
plete  riddance  must  be  made  of  them, 
either  by  the  father  confessor  in  the 
box,  or  in  open  court  by  the  ecclesi¬ 
astical  judge.  For  these  unknown  words 
and  characters  imply  a  tacit  compact 
with  the  devil,  who  secretly  uses  such 
things  for  his  own  purpose,  granting 
their  wearers  their  wishes,  that  he 
may  lure  them  on  to  worse  things. 
Therefore  in  the  court  of  law  such  men 
must  be  warned  and  sentenced  after 
the  second  method.  In  the  box,  the 
confessor  must  examine  the  charm,  and 
if  he  is  unwilling  to  throw  it  away 
altogether,  he  must  delete  the  unknown 
words  and  signs,  but  may  keep  any 
Gospel  words  or  the  sign  of  the  Cross. 

Now  with  regard  to  all  these  classes 
of  wizards,  and  especially  the  archers, 
it  must  be  noted,  as  has  been  declared 
above,  whether  they  are  to  be  judged 
as  heretics  openly  taken  in  that  sin; 
and  we  have  touched  on  this  matter 
even  before  in  the  First  Question  of 
the  First  Part.  And  there  it  is  shown 
that  S.  Bernard  says  that  there  are 
three  ways  by  which  a  man  can  be 
convicted  of  heresy:  either  by  the 
evidence  of  the  fact  when  in  simple 
heresy  he  publicly  preaches  his  errors, 
or  by  the  credible  evidence  of  witnesses, 
or  by  a  man’s  own  confession.  S. 
Bernard  also  explains  the  meaning 
of  some  of  the  words  of  the  Canon 
Law  in  this  connexion,  as  was  shown 
in  the  First  Question  of  the  First  Part 
of  this  work. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  archer- 
wizards,  and  those  mages  who  enchant 
other  weapons,  are  to  be  considered  as 
manifestly  guilty  of  flagrant  heresy, 
through  some  expressed  pact  with  the 
devil,  since  it  is  obvious  that  their 
feats  would  not  be  possible  without 
the  devil’s  help. 

Secondly,  it  is  equally  clear  that 
the  patrons,  protectors  and  defenders 
of  such  men  are  manifestly  to  be  judged 
in  the  same  way,  and  subjected  to  the 
prescribed  punishments.  For  there  is 
not  in  their  case,  as  there  may  be  in  that 


of  several  others,  any  doubt  as  to 
whether  they  are  to  be  regarded  as 
lightly  or  strongly  or  gravely  suspected ; 
but  they  are  always  very  grave  sinners 
against  the  Faith,  and  are  always 
visited  by  God  with  a  miserable  deatn. 

For  it  is  told  that  a  certain  prince 
used  to  keep  such  wizards  in  his 
favour,  and  by  their  help  unduly 
oppressed  a  certain  city  in  matters 
01  commerce.  And  when  one  of  his 
retainers  remonstrated  with  him  over 
this,  he  threw  away  all  fear  of  God  and 
exclaimed,  “God  grant  that  I  may 
die  in  this  place* if  I  am  oppressing 
them  unjustly.”  Divine  vengeance 
quickly  followed  these  words,  and  he 
was  stricken  down  with  sudden  death. 
And  this  vengeance  was  not  so  much 
on  account  of  his  unjust  oppression  as 
because  of  his  patronage  of  heresy. 

Thirdly,  it  is  clear  that  all  Bishops 
and  Rulers  who  do  not  essay  their  utmost 
to  suppress  crimes  of  this  sort,  with 
their  authors  and  patrons,  are  them¬ 
selves  to  be  judged  as  evident  abettors 
of  the  crime,  and  are  manifestly  to 
be  punished  in  the  prescribed  manner. 

☆ 

QUESTION  II 

The  Methods  of  Destroying  and  Cur¬ 
ing  Witchcraft. 

Introduction ,  wherein  is  set  Forth  the 
Difficulty  of  this  Question. 

IS  it  lawful  to  remove  witchcraft  by 
means  of  further  witchcraft,  or  by 
any  other  forbidden  means? 

It  is  argued  that  it  is  not ;  for  it  has 
already  been  shown  that  in  the  Second 
Book  of  Sentences ,  and  the  8th  Distinc¬ 
tion,  all  the  Doctors  agree  that  it  is 
unlawful  to  use  the  help  of  devils, 
since  to  do  so  involves  apostasy  from 
the  Faith.  And,  it  is  argued,  no  witch¬ 
craft  can  be  removed  without  the  help 
of  devils.  For  it  is  submitted  that  it 
must  be  cured  either  by  human  power, 
or  by  diabolic,  or  by  Divine  power.  It 
cannot  be  by  the  first;  for  the  lower 
ower  cannot  counteract  the  higher, 
aving  no  control  over  that  which  is 
outside  its  own  natural  capacity. 
Neither  can  it  be  by  Divine  power; 
for  this  would  be  a  miracle,  which  God 
performs  only  at  His  own  will,  and  not 
at  the  instance  of  men.  For  when  His 


156 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Question  2. 


Mother  besought  Christ  to  perform  a 
miracle  to  supply  the  need  for  wine, 
He  answered :  Woman,  what  have  I  to 
do  with  thee?  And  the  Doctors  explain 
this  as  meaning,  “What  association  is 
there  between  you  and  me  in  the  work¬ 
ing  of  a  miracle?”*  Also  it  appears 
that  it  is  very  rarely  that  men  are 
delivered  from  a  bewitchment  by  call¬ 
ing  on  God’s  help  or  the  prayers  of 
the  Saints.  Therefore  it  follows  that 
they  can  only  be  delivered  by  the  help 
of  devils;  and  it  is  unlawful  to  seek 
such  help. 

Again  it  is  pointed  out  that  the 
common  method  in  practice  of  taking 
off  a  bewitchment,  although  it  is  quite 
unlawful,  is  for  the  bewitched  persons 
to  resort  to  wise  women,  by  whom 
they  are  very  frequently  cured,  and 
not  by  priests  or  exorcists.  So  experi¬ 
ence  shows  that  such  cures  are  effected 
by  the  help  of  devils,  which  it  is  un¬ 
lawful  to  seek;  therefore  it  cannot  be 
lawful  thus  to  cure  a  bewitchment,  but 
it  must  patiently  be  borne. 

It  is  further  argued  that  S.  Thomas 
and  S.  Bonaventura,  in  Book  IV, 
dist.  34,  have  said  that  a  bewitchment 
must  be  permanent  because  it  can 
have  no  human  remedy ;  for  if  there  is 
a  remedy,  it  is  either  unknown  to  men 
or  unlawful.  And  these  words  are  taken 
to  mean  that  this  infirmity  is  incurable 
and  must  be  regarded  as  permanent; 
and  they  add  that,  even  if  God  should 
provide  a  remedy  by  coercing  the 
devil,  and  the  devil  should  remove  his 
plague  from  a  man,  and  the  man 
should  be  cured,  that  cure  would  not 
be  a  human  one.  Therefore,  unless 
God  should  cure  it,  it  is  not  lawful  for 
a  man  himself  to  try  in  any  way  to 
look  for  a  cure. 

In  the  same  place  these  two  Doctors 
add  that  it  is  unlawful  even  to  seek  a 
remedy  by  the  superadding  of  another 
bewitchment.  For  they  say  that,  grant¬ 
ing  this  to  be  possible,  and  that  the 
original  spell  be  removed,  yet  the 

*  “Miracle”  The  sense  is  completely  mis¬ 
taken  here.  It  should  rather  he,  “Lady,  what  is 
it  to  Me  and  to  Thee”  if  these  people  lack  wine? 
Our  Lord  marvels  at  the  supreme  charity  of  Our 
Lady.  The  first  miracle  was  wrought  at  the 
request  of  MARY.  Quod  Deus  imperio  tu  prece, 
Virgo,  potes.  It  may  be  argued  that  all  miracles 
are  performed  at  the  request  of  Our  Lady,  since , 
as  S.  Bernard  says ,  God  wishes  us  to  obtain 
everything  through  Her.  Totum  nos  uoluit 
habere  per  MARIAM. 


witchcraft  is  none  the  less  to  be  con¬ 
sidered  permanent ;  for  it  is  in  no  way 
lawful  to  invoke  the  devil’s  help 
through  witchcraft. 

Further,  it  is  submitted  that  the 
exorcisms  of  the  Church  are  not 
always  effective  in  the  repression  of 
devils  I  in  the  matter  of  bodily  afflic¬ 
tions,  since  such  are  cured  only  at  the 
discretion  of  God ;  but  they  are  effec¬ 
tive  always  against  those  molestations 
of  devils  against  which  they  are  chiefly 
instituted,  as,  for  example,  against 
men  who  are  possessed,  or  in  the  matter 
of  exorcising  children. 

Again,  it  does  not  follow  that, 
because  the  devil  has  been  given  power 
over  someone  on  account  of  his  sins, 
that  power  must  come  to  an  end  on 
the  cessation  of  the  sin.  For  very  often 
a  man  may  cease  from  sinning,  but  his 
sins  still  remain.  So  it  seems  from  these 
sayings  that  the  two  Doctors  we  have 
cited  were  of  the  opinion  that  it  is 
unlawful  to  remove  a  bewitchment, 
but  that  it  must  be  suffered,  just  as  it 
is  permitted  by  the  Lord  God,  Who 
can  remove  it  when  it  seems  good  to 
Him. 

Against  this  opinion  it  is  argued  that 
just  as  God  and  Nature  do  not  abound 
in  superfluities,  so  also  they  are  not 
deficient  in  necessities ;  and  it  is  a  neces¬ 
sity  that  there  should  be  given  to  the 
faithful  against  such  devils’  work  not 
only  a  means  of  protection  (of  which  we 
treat  in  the  beginning  of  this  Second 
Part),  but  also  curative  remedies.  For 
otherwise  the  faithful  would  not  be 
sufficiently  provided  for  by  God,  and 
the  works  of  the  devil  would  seem  to 
be  stronger  than  God’s  works. 

Also  there  is  the  gloss  on  that  text  in 
Job.  There  is  no  power  on  earth, 
etc.  The  gloss  says  that,  although  the 
devil  has  power  over  all  things  human, 
he  is  nevertheless  subject  to  the  merits 
of  the  Saints,  and  even  to  the  merits  of 
saintly  men  in  this  life. 

Again,  S.  Augustine  ( De  moribus 
Ecclesiae)%  says:  No  Angel  is  more 
powerful  than  our  mind,  when  we  hold 
fast  to  God.  For  if  power  is  a  virtue 
in  this  world,  then  the  mind  that  keeps 
close  to  God  is  more  sublime  than  the 


f  “Devils.”  If  the  exorcism  is  not  effective  it  is 
owing  to  lack  of  faith. 

$  “De  Moribus.”  “De  Moribus  ecclesiae 
catholicae  et  de  moribus  Manichaeorum ”  was 
written  388-89. 


Part  II.  Question  2.  MALEFICARUM 


x57 


whole  world.  Therefore  such  minds  can 
undo  the  works  of  the  devil. 

Answer.  Here  are  two  weighty  opin¬ 
ions  which,  it  seems,  are  at  complete 
variance  with  each  other. 

For  there  are  certain  Theologians  and 
Canonists  who  agree  that  it  is  lawful  to 
remove  witchcraft  even  by  superstitious 
and  vain  means.  And  of  this  opinion 
are  Duns  Scotus,*  Henry  of  Segusio, 
and  Godfrey,  and  all  the  Canonists. 
But  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  other 
Theologians,  especially  the  ancient 
ones,  and  of  some  of  the  modern  ones, 
such  as  S.  Thomas,  S.  Bonaventura, 
Blessed  Albert,  Peter  a  Palude,  and 
many  others,  that  in  no  case  must  evil 
be  done  that  good  may  result,  and  that 
a  man  ought  rather  to  die  than  consent 
to  be  cured  by  superstitious  and  vain 
means. 

Let  us  now  examine  their  opinions, 
with  a  view  to  bringing  them  as  far  as 
ossible  into  agreement.  Scotus,  in  his 
ourth  Book,  Hist.  34,  on  obstructions 
and  impotence  caused  by  witchcraft, 
says  that  it  is  foolish  to  maintain  that 
it  is  unlawful  to  remove  a  bewitchment 
even  by  superstitious  and  vain  means, 
and  that  to  do  so  is  in  no  way  contrary 
to  the  Faith;  for  he  who  destroys  the 
work  of  the  devil  is  not  an  accessory 
to  such  works,  but  believes  that  the 
devil  has  the  power  and  inclination  to 
help  in  the  infliction  of  an  injury  only 
so  long  as  the  outward  token  or  sign 
of  that  injury  endures.  Therefore  when 
that  token  is  destroyed  he  puts  an  end 
to  the  injury.  And  he  adds  that  it  is 
meritorious  to  destroy  the  works  of  the 
devil.  But,  as  he  speaks  of  tokens,  we 
will  give  an  example. 
j  There  are  women  who  discover  a 
witch  by  the  following  token.  Whfen  a 
\  cow’s  supply  of  milk  has  been  dimin¬ 
ished  by  witchcraft,  they  hang  a  pail 

iof  milk  over  the  fire,  and  uttering  cer¬ 
tain  superstitious  words,  beat  the  pail 
with  a  stick.  And  though  it  is  the  pail 
that  the  women  beat,  yet  the  devil 
carries  all  those  blows  to  the  back  of 
the  witch ;  and  in  this  way  both  the 
witch  and  the  devil  are  made  weary. 

*  “ Duns  Scotus .”  John  Duns  Scotus ,  Doctor 
Subtilis ,  the  famous  Franciscan  scholastic ,  died 
8  November ,  1308.  He  lived  and  taught  at 
Oxford ,  and  for  a  time  at  Paris.  His  complete 
work  with  commentaries  appeared  at  Paris , 
i8gi-gg,  in  twenty-six  volumes ,  quarto ,  being  a 
reprint  of  the  twelve  folio  volumes  which  were 
issued  by  Luke  Wadding  in  i6jg  at  Lyons. 


But  the  devil  does  this  in  order  that 
he  may  lead  on  the  woman  who  beats 
the  pail  to  worse  practices.  And  so,  if 
it  were  not  for  the  risk  which  it  entails, 
there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  accept¬ 
ing  the  opinion  of  this  learned  Doctor. 
Many  other  examples  could  be  given. 

Henry  of  Segusio,  in  his  eloquent 
Summa  on  genital  impotence  caused  by 
witchcraft,  says  that  in  such  cases  re¬ 
course  must  be  had  to  the  remedies  of 
physicians ;  and  although  some  of  these 
remedies  seem  to  be  vain  and  super¬ 
stitious  cantrips  and  charms,  yet  every¬ 
one  must  be  trusted  in  his  own  pro¬ 
fession,  and  the  Church  may  well 
tolerate  the  suppression  of  vanities  by 
means  of  other  vanities. 

Ubertinusj  also,  in  his  Fourth  Book, 
uses  these  words:  A  bewitchment  can 
be  removed  either  by  prayer  or  by  the 
same  art  by  which  it  was  inflicted. 

Godfrey  says  in  his  Summa :  A 
bewitchment  cannot  always  be  re¬ 
moved  by  him  who  caused  it,  either 
because  he  is  dead,  or  because  he  does 
not  know  how  to  cure  it,  or  because 
the  necessary  charm  is  lost.  But  if  he 
knows  how  to  effect  relief,  it  is  lawful 
for  him  to  cure  it.  Our  author  is  speak¬ 
ing  against  those  who  said  that  an 
obstruction  of  the  carnal  act  could  not 
be  caused  by  witchcraft,  and  that  it 
could  never  be  permanent,  and  there¬ 
fore  did  not  annul  a  marriage  already 
contracted. 

Besides,  those  who  maintained  that 
no  spell  is  permanent  were  moved  by 
the  following  reasons :  they  thought 
that  every  bewitchment  could  be  re¬ 
moved  either  by  another  magic  spell, 
or  by  the  exorcisms  of  the  Church 
which  are  ordained  for  the  suppression 
of  the  devil’s  power,  or  by  true  peni¬ 
tence,  since  the  devil  has  power  only 
over  sinners.  So  in  the  first  respect  they 
agree  with  the  opinion  of  the  others, 
namely,  that  a  spell  can  be  removed 
by  superstitious  means. 

But  S.  Thomas  is  of  the  contrary 
opinion  when  he  says :  If  a  spell  can¬ 
not  be  revoked  except  by  some  unlaw- 

f  “Uber  tinus.”  Ubertino  of  C as  ale,  leader 
of  the  Spiritual  Franciscans ,  who  expressed 
extreme  views  regarding  evangelical  poverty _  He 
was  born  in  1233,  and  died  about  1330.  Owing 
to  his  warm  advocacy  of  the  strictest  ideas  he  was 
severely  condemned  by  the  authorities ,  and  his 
history  is  a  matter  of  considerable  difficulty.  His 
chief  work  is  generally  considered  to  be  “ Arbor 
uitae  crucifixae  JESU  Christi .” 


158 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Question  2. 


ful  means,  such  as  the  devil’s  help  or 
anything  of  that  sort,  even  if  it  is  known 
that  it  can  be  revoked  in  that  way,  it 
is  nevertheless  to  be  considered  perma¬ 
nent  ;  for  the  remedy  is  not  lawful. 

Of  the  same  opinion  are  S.  Bona- 
ventura,  Peter  a  Palude,  Blessed 
Albert,  and  all  the  Theologians.  For, 
touching  briefly  on  the  question  of 
invoking  the  help  of  the  devil  either 
tacitly  or  expressedly,  they  seem  to  hold 
that  such  spells  may  only  be  removed 
by  lawful  exorcism  or  true  penitence 
(as  is  set  down  in  the  Canon  Law  con¬ 
cerning  sortilege),  being  moved,  as  it 
seems,  by  the  considerations  mentioned 
in  the  beginning  of  this  Question. 

But  it  is  expedient  to  bring  these 
various  opinions  of  the  learned  Doctors 
as  far  as  possible  into  agreement,  and 
this  can  be  done  in  one  respect.  For 
this  purpose  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the 
methods  by  which  a  spell  of  witchcraft 
can  be  removed  are  as  follows : — either 
by  the  agency  of  another  witch  and 
another  spell ;  or  without  the  agency  of 
a  witch,  but  by  means  of  magic  and 
unlawful  ceremonies.  And  this  last 
method  may  be  divided  into  two ; 
namely,  the  use  of  ceremonies  which 
are  both  unlawful  and  vain,  or  the  use 
of  ceremonies  which  are  vain  but  not 
unlawful. 

The  first  remedy  is  altogether  un¬ 
lawful,  in  respect  both  of  the  agent  and 
of  the  remedy  itself.  But  it  may  be 
accomplished  in  two  ways ;  either  with 
some  injury  to  him  who  worked  the 
spell,  or  without  any  injury,  but  with 
magic  and  unlawful  ceremonies.  In  the 
latter  case  it  can  be  included  with  the 
second  method,  namely,  that  by  which 
the  spell  is  removed  not  by  the  agency 
of  a  witch,  but  by  magic  and  unlawful 
ceremonies;  and  in  this  case  it  is  still 
to  be  judged  unlawful,  though  not  to 
the  same  extent  as  the  first  method. 

We  may  summarize  the  position  as 
follows.  There  are  three  conditions  by 
which  a  remedy  is  rendered  unlawful. 
First,  when  the  spell  is  removed  through 
the  agency  of  another  witch,  and  by 
further  witchcraft,  that  is,  by  the  power 
of  some  devil.  Secondly,  when  it  is 
not  removed  by  a  witch,  but  by  some 
honest  person,  in  such  a  way,  however, 
that  the  spell  is  by  some  magical  remedy 
transferred  from  one  person  to  another ; 
and  this  again  is  unlawful.  Thirdly, 
when  the  spell  is  removed  without 
imposing  it  on  another  person,  but 


some  open  or  tacit  invocation  of 
devils  is  used ;  and  then  again  it  is  un¬ 
lawful. 

And  it  is  with  reference  to  these 
methods  that  the  Theologians  say  that 
it  is  better  to  die  than  to  consent  to 
them.  But  there  are  two  other  methods 
by  which,  according  to  the  Canonists, 
it  is  lawful,  or  not  idle  and  vain,  to 
remove  a  spell ;  and  that  such  methods 
may  be  used  when  all  the  remedies  of 
the  Church,  such  as  exorcisms  and  the 
prayers  of  the  Saints  and  true  peni¬ 
tence,  have  been  tried  and  have  failed. 
But  for  a  clearer  understanding  of 
these  remedies  we  will  recount  some 
examples  known  to  our  experience. 

In  the  time  of  Pope  Nicolas  there 
had  come  to  Rome  on  some  business 
a  certain  Bishop  from  Germany,  whom 
it  is  charitable  not  to  name  although 
he  has  now  paid  the  debt  of  all  nature. 
There  he  fell  in  love  with  a  girl,  and 
sent  her  to  his  diocese  in  charge  of  two 
servants  and  certain  other  of  his  posses¬ 
sions,  including  some  rich  jewels.  While 
this  girl  was  on  her  way,  with  the 
usual  greed  of  women,  she  grew 
covetous  of  these  jewels,  which  were 
indeed  very  valuable,  and  began  to 
think  in  her  heart  that,  if  only  the 
Bishop  were  to  die  through  some  witch¬ 
craft,  she  would  be  able  to  take  posses¬ 
sion  of  the  rings,  the  pendants  and 
carcanets.  The  next  night  the  Bishop 
suddenly  fell  ill,  and  the  physicians 
and  his  servants  gravely  suspected 
that  he  had  been  poisoned;  for  there 
was  such  a  fire  in  his  breast  that  he  had 
to  take  continual  draughts  of  cold 
water  to  assuage  it.  On  the  third  day, 
when  there  seemed  no  hope  of  his  life, 
an  old  woman  came  and  begged  that 
she  might  see  him,  saying  that  she  had 
come  to  heal  him.  So  they  let  her  in, 
and  she  promised  the  Bishop  that  she 
could  heal  him  if  he  would  agree  to 
her  proposals.  When  the  Bishop  asked 
what  it  was  to  which  he  had  to  agree 
in  order  to  regain  his  health,  as  he  so 
greatly  desired,  the  old  woman  an¬ 
swered:  Your  illness  has  been  caused 
by  a  spell  of  witchcraft,  and  you  can 
onlv  be  healed  by  another  spell,  which 
will  transfer  the  illness  from  you  to  the 
witch  who  caused  it,  so  that  she  will 
die.  The  Bishop  was  astounded;  and 
seeing  that  he  could  be  healed  in  no 
other  way,  and  not  wishing  to  come  to 
a  rash  decision,  decided  to  ask  the 
advice  of  the  Pope.  Now  the  Holy 


159 


Part  II.  Question  2*  MALEFICARUM 


Father  loved  him  very  dearly,  and 
when  he  learned  that  he  could  only 
be  healed  by  the  death  of  the  witch, 
he  agreed  to  permit  the  lesser  of  two 
evils,  and  signed  this  permission  with 
his  seal.  So  the  old  woman  was  again 
approached  and  told  that  both  he  and 
the  Pope  had  agreed  to  the  death  of 
the  witch,  on  condition  that  he  was 
restored  to  his  former  health;  and  the 
old  woman  went  away,  promising  him 
that  he  would  be  healed  on  the  follow¬ 
ing  night.  And  behold!  when  about 
the  middle  of  the  night  he  felt  himself 
cured  and  free  from  all  illness,  he  sent 
a  messenger  to  learn  what  had  hap¬ 
pened  to  the  girl;  and  he  came  back 
and  reported  that  she  had  suddenly 
been  taken  ill  in  the  middle  of  the 
night  while  sleeping  by  her  mother’s 
side. 

It  is  to  be  understood  that  at  the 
very  same  hour  and  moment  the  illness 
left  the  Bishop  and  afflicted  the  girl 
witch,  through  the  agency  of  the  old 
witch;  and  so  the  evil  spirit,  by  ceasing 
to  plague  the  Bishop,  appeared  to 
restore  him  to  health  by  chance, 
whereas  it  was  not  he  but  God  Who 
permitted  him  to  afflict  him,  and  it  was 
God  Who  properly  speaking  restored 
him;  and  the  devil,  by  reason  of  his 
compact  with  the  second  witch,  who 
envied  the  fortune  of  the  girl,  had  to 
afflict  the  Bishop’s  mistress.  And  it 
must  be  thought  that  those  two  evil 
spells  were  not  worked  by  one  devil 
serving  two  persons,  but  by  two  devils 
serving  two  separate  witches.  For  the 
devils  do  not  work  against  themselves,* 
but  work  as  much  as  possible  in  agree¬ 
ment  for  the  perdition  of  souls. 

Finally,  the  Bishop  went  out  of  com¬ 
passion  to  visit  the  girl;  but  when  he 
entered  the  room,  she  received  him 
with  horrible  execrations,  crying  out: 
May  you  and  she  who  wrought  your 
cure  be  damned  for  ever!  And  the 
Bishop  tried  to  soften  her  mind  to 
penitence,  and  told  her  that  he  for¬ 
gave  her  all  her  wrongs ;  but  she 
turned  her  face  away  and  said :  I  have 
no  hope  of  pardon,  but  commend  my 
soul  to  all  the  devils  in  hell;  and  died 
I  miserably.  But  the  Bishop  returned 
4home  with  joy  and  thankfulness. 

Here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  a  privilege 


*  “ Against  themselves “S.  Matthew ” 
xii,  26:  “ Et  si  Satanas  Satanam  elicit ,  aduersus 
se  diuisus  est:  quomodo  ergo  stabit  regnum  eius ?” 


granted  to  one  does  not  constitute  a 
precedent  for  all,  and  the  dispensation 
of  the  Pope  in  this  case  does  not  argue 
that  it  is  lawful  in  all  cases. 

Nider  in  his  Formicarius  refers  to  the 
same  matter,  for  he  says :  The  following 
method  is  sometimes  employed  for 
removing  or  taking  vengeance  for  a 
spell  of  witchcraft.  Someone  who  has 
been  bewitched  either  in  himself  or  in 
his  possessions  comes  to  a  witch  desir-f 
ing  to  know  who  has  injured  him. 
Then  the  witch  pours  molten  lead  into 
water  until,  by  the  work  of  the  devil, 
some  image  is  formed  by  the  solidified 
lead.  On  this,  the  witch  asks  in  which 
part  of  the  body  he  wishes  his  enemy 
to  be  hurt,  so  that  he  may  recognize 
him  by  that  hurt.  And  when  he  has 
chosen,  the  witch  immediately  pierces 
or  wounds  with  a  knife  the  leaden 
image  in  the  same  part,  and  shows  him 
the  place  by  which  he  can  recognize 
the  guilty  person.  And  it  is  found  by 
experience  that,  just  in  the  same  way  as 
the  leaden  image  is  hurt,  so  is  the 
witch  hurt  who  cast  the  spell. 

But  of  this  sort  of  remedy  I  say,  and 
of  others  like  it,  that  generally  they  are 
unlawful;  although  human  weakness, 
in  the  hope  of  obtaining  pardon  from 
God,  is  very  often  ensnared  in  such 
practices,  being  more  careful  for  the 
health  of  the  body  than  for  that  of  the 
soul. 

The  second  kind  of  cure  which  is 
wrought  by  witches  who  remove  a  spell 
again  requires  an  expressed  pact  with 
the  devil,  but  is  not  accompanied  by 
any  injury  to  another  person.  And  in 
what  light  such  witches  should  be  con¬ 
sidered,  and  how  they  are  to  be  recog¬ 
nized,  will  be  shown  later  in  the 
fifteenth  method  of  sentencing  witches. 
JLhere  are  very  many  such  witches,  tor 
they  are  always  to  be  found  at  intervals  f  ; 
of  one  or  two  German  miles,  and  these  I 
seem  to  be  able  to  cure  any  who  have 
been  bewitched  by  another  witch  in 
their  own  district.  Some  of  them  claim 
to  be  able  to  effect  such  cures  at  all 
times;  some  that  they  can  only  cure 
those  bewitched  in  the  neighbouring 
signiory ;  others  that  they  can  only 
perform  their  cures  with  the  consent! 
of  the  witch  who  cast  the  original  | 
spell.  * 

And  it  is  known  that  these  women' 
have  entered  into  an  open  pact  with 
the  devil,  because  they  reveal  secret 
matters  to  those  who  come  to  them  to 


i6o 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Question  2 


be  cured.  For  they  suddenly  disclose 
to  such  a  person  the  cause  of  his 
calamity,  telling  him  that  he  has  been 
bewitched  either  in  his  own  person  or 
in  his  possessions  because  of  some 
quarrel  he  has  had  with  a  neighbour 
or  with  some  other  woman  or  man; 
and  at  times,  in  order  to  keep  their 
criminal  practices  secret,  they  enjoin 
upon  their  clients  some  pilgrimage  or 
other  pious  work.  But  to  approach 
such  women  in  order  to  be  cured  is  all 
the  more  pernicious  because  they  seem 
to  bring  greater  contempt  upon  the 
Faith  than  others  who  effect  their 
cures  by  means  of  a  merely  tacit  com¬ 
pact  with  the  devil. 

For  they  who  resort  to  such  witches 
are  thinking  more  of  their  bodily 
health  than  of  God,  and  besides  that, 
God  cuts  short  their  lives  to  punish 
them  for  taking  into  their  own  hands 
the  vengeance  for  their  wrongs.  For  so 
the  Divine  vengeance  overtook  Saul, 
because  he  first  cast  out  of  the  land  all 
magicians  and  wizards,  and  afterwards 
consulted  a  witch;  wherefore  he  was 
slain  in  battle  with  his  sons,  I.  Samuel 
xxviii,  and  I.  Paralipomenon  x.  And 
for  the  same  reason  the  sick  Ochozias* 
had  to  die,  IV.  Kings  i  (Ahaziah; 
II.  Kings  i.  A.V.). 

Also  they  who  consult  such  witches 
are  regarded  as  defamed,  and  cannot 
be  allowed  to  bring  an  accusation,  as 
will  be  shown  in  the  Third  Part;  and 
they  are  by  law  to  be  sentenced  to 
capital  punishment,  as  was  said  in  the 
First  Question  of  this  work. 

But  alas !  O  Lord  God,  Who  art 
just  in  all  Thy  judgements,  who  shall 
deliver  the  poor  who  are  bewitched 
and  cry  out  in  their  ceaseless  pains? 
For  our  sins  are  so  great,  and  the 
enemy  is  so  strong ;  and  where  are  they 
who  can  undo  the  works  of  the  devil 
by  lawful  exorcisms?  This  one  remedy 
appears  to  be  left;  that  judges  should, 
by  various  penalties,  keep  such  wicked¬ 
ness  as  far  as  possible  in  check  by 

*  “Ochozias,”  who  when  sick  “sent  messen¬ 
gers,  saying  to  them:  Go,  consult  Beelzebub,  the 
god  of  Hecaron,  whether  I  shall  recover  of  this 
my  illness.  And  an  angel  of  the  Lord  spoke  to 
Elias  the  Thesbite,  saying:  Arise,  and  go  up  to 
meet  the  messengers  of  the  king  of  Samaria,  and 
say  to  them:  Is  there  not  a  God.  in  Israel,  that  ye 
go  to  consult  Beelzebub,  the  god  of  Hecaron? 
Wherefore  thus  saith  the  Lord:  From  the  bed  on 
which  thou  art  gone  up  thou  shalt  not  come  down , 
but  thou  shalt  surely  die.” 


punishing  the  witches  who  are  the 
cause  of  it;  that  so  they  may  deprive 
the  sick  of  the  opportunity  of  consulting 
witches.  But,  alas !  no  one  understands 
this  in  his  heart;  but  they  all  seek  for 
their  own  gain  instead  of  that  of  JESUS 
Christ. 

For  so  many  people  used  to  go  to  be 
freed  from  spells  to  that  witch  in  Reichs- 
hofen,  whom  we  have  already  men¬ 
tioned,  that  the  Count  of  the  castle  set 
up  a  toll-booth,  and  all  who  were  be¬ 
witched  in  their  own  persons  or  in 
their  possessions  had  to  pay  a  penny 
before  they  could  visit  her  house;  and 
he  boasted  that  he  made  a  substantial 
profit  by  this  means. 

We  know  from  experience  that  there 
are  many  such  witches  in  the  diocese 
of  Constance:  not  that  this  diocese  is 
more  infected  than  others,  since  this 
form  of  infidelity  is  general  in  all 
dioceses ;  but  this  diocese  has  been  more 
thoroughly  sifted.  It  was  found  that 
daily  resort  was  being  made  to  a  man 
named  Hengst  by  a  very  large  con¬ 
course  of  poor  folk  who  had  been  be¬ 
witched,  and  with  our  own  eyes  we 
saw  such  crowds  drT  the  village  of 
Eningen,  that  certainly  the  poor  never  j 
flocked  to  any  shrine  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  or  to  a  Holy  Well  or  a  Hermi¬ 
tage,  in  such  numbers  as  they  went  to 
that  sorcerer.  For  in  the  very  coldest 
winter  weather,  when  all  the  highways 
and  byways  were  snow-bound,  they 
came  to  him  from  two  or  three  miles 
round  in  spite  of  the  greatest  diffi¬ 
culties;  and  some  were  cured,  but 
others  not.  For  I  suppose  that  all  spells 
are  not  equally  easy  to  remove,  on 
account  of  various  obstacles,  as  has 
been  said  before.  And  these  witches 
remove  spells  by  means  of  an  open 
invocation  of  devils  after  the  manner 
of  the  second  kind  of  remedies,  which 
are  unlawful,  but  not  to  the  same  extent 
as  the  first  kind. 

The  third  kind  of  remedy  is  that 
which  is  wrought  by  means  of  certain 
superstitious  ceremonies,  but  without 
any  injury  to  anyone,  and  not  by  an 
overt  witch.  An  example  of  this  method 
is  as  follows : 

A  certain  market  merchant  in  the 
town  of  Spires  deposed  that  the  follow¬ 
ing  experience  had  happened  to  him. 

I  was  staying,  he  said,  in  Swabia  in  a 
well-known  nobleman’s  castle,  and  one 
day  after  dinner  I  was  strolling  at  my 
ease  with  two  of  the  servants  in  the 


Part  II.  Question  2. 


MALEFICARUM 


161 


fields,  when  a  woman  met  us.  But 
while  she  was  still  a  long  way  off  my 
companions  recognized  her,  and  one 
of  them  said  to  me,  “Cross  yourself 
quickly,”  and  the  other  one  urged  me 
in  like  manner.  I  asked  them  what 
they  feared,  and  they  answered,  “The 
most  dangerous  witch  in  the  whole 
Province  is  coming  to  meet  us,  and  she 
can  cast  a  spell  on  men  by  only  looking 
at  them.”  But  I  obstinately  boasted 
that  I  had  never  been  afraid  of  such; 
and  hardly  had  I  uttered  the  words 
before  I  felt  myself  grievously  hurt  in 
the  left  foot,  so  that  I  could  not  move 
it  from  the  ground  or  take  a  step  with¬ 
out  the  greatest  pain.  Whereupon  they 
quickly  sent  to  the  castle  for  a  horse 
for  me,  and  thus  led  me  back.  But  the 
pains  went  on  increasing  for  three  days. 

The  people  of  the  castle,  understand¬ 
ing  that  I  had  been  bewitched,  related 
what  had  happened  to  a  certain  peasant 
who  lived  about  a  mile  away,  whom 
they  knew  to  have  skill  in  removing 
spells.  This  man  quickly  came  and, 
after  examining  my  foot,  said,  “I  will 
test  whether  these  pains  are  due  to  a 
natural  cause ;  and  if  I  find  that  they 
are  due  to  witchcraft,  I  will  cure  you 
with  the  help  of  God;  but  if  they  are 
not,  you  must  have  recourse  to  natural 
remedies.”  Whereupon  I  made  reply, 
“If  I  can  be  cured  without  any  magic, 
and  with  the  help  of  God,  I  will  gladly 
agree;  but  I  will  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  devil,  nor  do  I  wish  for  his 
help.”  And  the  peasant  promised  that 
he  would  use  none  except  lawful  means, 
and  that  he  would  cure  me  by  the 
help  of  God,  provided  that  he  could 
make  certain  that  my  pains  were  due 
to  witchcraft.  So  I  consented  to  his 
proposals.  Then  he  took  molten  lead 
(in  the  manner  of  another  witch  whom 
we  have  mentioned),  and  held  it  in  an 
iron  ladle  over  my  foot,  and  poured  it 
into  a  bowl  of  water ;  and  immediately 
there  appeared  the  shapes  of  various 
things,  as  if  thorns  and  hairs  and  bones 
and  such  things  had  been  put  into  the 
bowl.  “Now,”  he  said,  “I  see  that  this 
infirmity  is  not  natural,  but  certainly 
due  to  witchcraft.”  And  when  I  asked 
him  how  he  could  tell  this  from  the 
molten  lead,  he  answered,  “There  are 
seven  metals  belonging  to  the  seven 
planets;  and  since  Saturn  is  the  Lord 
of  lead,  when  lead  is  poured  out  over 
anyone  who  has  been  bewitched,  it  is  his 
property  to  discover  the  witchcraft  by 


his  power.  And  so  it  has  surely  proved, 
and  you  will  soon  be  cured ;  yet  I  must 
visit  you  for  as  many  days  as  you  have 
been  under  this  spell.”  And  he  asked 
me  how  many  days  had  passed;  and 
when  I  told  him  that  was  the  third  day, 
he  came  to  see  me  on  each  of  the  next 
three  days,  and  merely  by  examining 
and  touching  my  foot  and  by  saying 
over  to  himself  certain  words,  he  dis¬ 
solved  the  charm  and  restored  me  to 
complete  health. 

In  this  case  it  is  clear  that  the  healer 
is  not  a  witch,  although  his  method  is 
something  superstitious.  For  in  that  he 
promised  a  cure  by  the  help  of  God, 
and  not  by  devils’  work,  and  that  he 
alleged  the  influence  of  Saturn  over 
lead,  he  was  irreproachable  and  rather 
to  be  commended.  But  there  remains 
some  small  doubt  as  to  the  power  by 
which  the  witch’s  spell  was  removed, 
and  the  figures  caused  in  the  lead.  For 
no  witchcraft  can  be  removed  by  any 
natural  power,  although  it  may  be 
assuaged,  as  will  be  proved  later  where 
we  speak  of  the  remedies  for  those  who 
are  possessed:  therefore  it  seems  that 
he  performed  this  cure  by  means  of 
at  least  some  tacit  pact  with  a  devil. 
And  we  call  such  a  pact  tacit  when  the 
practitioner  agrees  tacitly,  at  any  rate, 
to  employ  the  devil’s  aid.  And  in  this 
way  many  superstitious  works  are  done, 
but  with  a  varying  degree  of  offence  to 
the  Creator,  since  there  may  be  far 
more  offence  to  Him  in  one  operation 
than  in  another. 

Yet  because  this  peasant  was  certain 
of  effecting  a  cure,  and  because  he  had 
to  visit  the  patient  for  as  many  days 
as  he  had  been  ill,  and  although  he 
used  no  natural  remedies,  yet  cured 
him  according  to  the  promise  made; 
for  these  reasons,  although  he  had 
entered  into  no  open  pact  with  the 
devil,  he  is  to  be  judged  not  only  as  a 
suspect,  but  as  one  plainly  guilty  of 
heresy,  and  must  be  considered  as  con¬ 
victed  and  subject  at  least  to  the 
penalties  set  out  below  in  the  second 
method  of  sentencing;  but  his  punish¬ 
ment  must  be  accompanied  with  a 
solemn  adjuration,  unless  he  is  pro¬ 
tected  by  other  laws  which  seem  to  be 
of  a  contrary  intention;  and  what  the 
Ordinary  should  do  in  such  a  case  will 
be  shown  later  in  the  solution  of  the 


\ 


Nr 


arguments. 

The  fourth  class  of  remedies,  con¬ 
cerning  which  the  Canonists  are  in 


1 62 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Question  2. 


partial  agreement  with  some  of  the 
Theologians,  is  said  to  be  no  worse 
than  idle  and  vain;  since  it  is  super¬ 
stitious  only,  and  there  is  no  pact 
either  open  or  tacit  with  the  devil  as 
regards  the  intention  or  purpose  of  the 
practitioner.  And  I  say  that  the  Canon¬ 
ists  and  some  Theologians  are  only 
partially  agreed  that  this  sort  of 
remedy  is  to  be  tolerated;  for  their 
agreement  or  non-agreement  depends 
upon  whether  or  not  they  class  this 
sort  of  remedies  together  with  the  third 
sort.  But  this  sort  of  vain  remedy  is 
exemplified  above  in  the  case  of  the 
women  who  beat  a  pail  hung  over  the 
fire  in  order  that  the  witch  may  be 
beaten  who  has  caused  a  cow  to  be 
drained  of  milk ;  although  this  may  be 
done  either  in  the  name  of  the  devil  or 
without  any  reference  to  him. 

We  may  adduce  other  examples  of 
the  same  kind.  For  sometimes  when  a 
cow  has  been  injured  in  this  way,  and 
they  wish  to  discover  who  has  be¬ 
witched  it,  they  drive  it  out  into  the 
fields  with  a  man’s  trousers,  or  some, 
such  unclean  thing,  upon  its  head  or 
back.  And  this  they  do  chiefly  on 
Feast  Days  and  Holy  Days,  and  pos¬ 
sibly  with  some  sort  of  invocation  of 
the  devil;  and  they  beat  the  cow  with 
a  stick  and  drive  it  away.  Then  the 
cow  runs  straight  to  the  house  of  the 
witch,  and  beats  vehemently  upon  the 
door  with  its  horns,  lowing  loudly  all 
the  while ;  and  the  devil  causes  the  cow 
to  go  on  doing  this  until  it  is  pacified 
by  some  other  witchcraft. 

Actually,  and  according  to  the  afore¬ 
said  Doctors,  such  remedies  can  be 
tolerated,  but  they  are  not  meritorious, 
as  some  try  to  maintain.  For  S.  Paul 
says  that  everything  which  we  do,  in 
word  or  deed,  must  be  done  in  the 
name  of  Our  Lord  JESUS  Christ.  Now 
in  this  sort  of  remedy  there  may  be  no 
direct  invocation  of  the  devil,  and  yet 
the  devil’s  name  may  be  mentioned : 
and  again  there  may  be  no  intention 
to  do  such  things  by  means  of  any 
open  or  tacit  pact  with  the  devil,  yet 
a  man  may  say,  “I  wish  to  do  this, 
whether  the  devil  has  any  part  in  it  or 
not”;  and  that  very  temerity,  by  put¬ 
ting  aside  the  fear  of  God,  offends  God, 
Who  therefore  grants  the  devil  power 
to  accomplish  such  cures.  Therefore 
they  who  use  such  practices  must  be 
led  into  the  way  of  penitence,  and 
urged  to  leave  such  things  and  turn 


rather  to  the  remedies  of  which  we 
shall  speak  later,  though  we  have 
touched  upon  them  before,  namely,  the 
use  of  Holy  Water  and  Blessed  Salt  and 
exorcisms,  etc. 

In  the  same  light  should  be  regarded 
those  who  use  the  following  method. 
When  an  animal  has  been  killed  by 
witchcraft,  and  they  wish  to  find  out 
the  witch,  or  to  make  certain  whether 
its  death  was  natural  or  due  to  witch¬ 
craft,  they  go  to  the  place  where  dead 
animals  are  skinned,  and  drag  its 
intestines  along  the  ground  up  to  their 
house;  not  into  the  house  through  the 
main  door,  but  over  the  threshold  of 
the  back  entrance  into  the  kitchen; 
and  then  they  make  a  fire  and  put  the 
intestines  over  it  on  a  hurdle.  Then, 
according  to  what  we  have  very  often 
been  told,  just  as  the  intestines  get  hot 
and  burn,  so  are  the  intestines  of  the 
witch  afflicted  with  burning  pains.* 

*  “ Burning  pains .”  The  following  quotation 
is  from  an  article  “ Witchcraft ,  Past  and 
Present ,”  by  Lady  Peirse ,  that  appeared  in 
“ Word-Lore ,”  Vol.  I,  No.  3  {pp.  122-28), 
May-June,  1926.  The  district  to  which  refer¬ 
ence  is  made  is  “ a  south-country  village  in 
England.  ”  “A  local  farmer,  whose  cows  and 
sheep  ailed  mysteriously,  and  showed  all  the 
usual  signs  of  being  ‘ overlooked ’  or  bewitched, 
whilst  things  in  general  went  wrong  with  him, 
consulted  the  witch  doctor,  and  was  told  to 
repeat  a  certain  charm  last  thing  at  night,  to  nail 
a  sheep's  heart  to  his  front  door,  to  bolt  and  bar 
up  the  house,  to  sit  up  alone,  and  on  no  account  to 
open  the  door  till  morning,  no  matter  what 
happened. 

“  This  the  farmer  did,  and  when  his  family 
had  repaired  to  bed,  he  commenced  his  lonely 
vigil  by  the  kitchen  fire.  After  a  while  there 
came  a  thunderous  knocking  on  the  door,  and  a 
voice  crying  ‘ Open  and  let  me  in'  The  voice  was 
very  urgent,  but  the  farmer,  though  he  trembled 
exceedingly,  kept  firm  grip  of  himself  and  never 
moved  from  his  chair.  Then  came  the  knocking  a 
second  time  and  a  deplorable  voice  begging  to  be 
allowed  in,  but  the  farmer  remained  obdurate. 
Lastly  came  a  feeble  knocking  and  moaning.  The 
farmer,  who  was  greatly  alarmed,  remained  at  his 
post  till  the  sun  was  up  next  morning.  When  he 
opened  his  door  a  neighbour  lay  stretched  across 
his  threshold  dead. 

“  The  doctor,  so  my  friend  was  told,  believed 
it  to  be  a  case  of  heart  failure.  We  can  only 
imagine  that  the  farmer  and  his  family  remained 
silent  about  the  voice  and  the  knocking  at  the 
door;  perhaps  no  one  but  the  farmer  had  heard. 
To  the  doctor,  a  simple  though  regrettable 
episode;  to  the  farmer,  an  awesome  case  of 
retribution.  To  the  world  at  large,  a  story  that 
may  be  interpreted  in  many  different  ways;  but 


Part  II.  Question  2. 


MALEFICARUM 


But  when  they  perform  this  experiment 
they  take  great  care  that  the  door  is 
securely  locked;  because  the  witch  is 
compelled  by  her  pains  to  try  to  enter 
the  house,  and  if  she  can  take  a  coal 
from  the  fire,  all  her  pains  will  dis¬ 
appear.  And  we  have  often  been  told 
that,  when  she  is  unable  to  enter  the 
house,  she  surrounds  it  inside  and  out 
with  the  densest  fog,  with  such  horrible 
shrieks  and  commotions  that  at  last  all 
those  in  the  house  think  the  roof  is 
verily  going  to  fall  down  and  crush 
them  unless  they  open  the  door. 

Certain  other  experiments  are  of  the 
same  nature.  For  sometimes  people 
pick  out  the  witches  from  a  number  of 
women  in  church  by  causing  the 
witches  to  be  unable  to  leave  the  church 


with  a  lesson  for  all  who  run  to  ready  namely, 
that  it  does  not  pay  to  practise  witchcraft  or  the 
indulgence  of  personal  spite  if  there  happens  to  he 
a  witch  doctor  in  the  neighbourhood,  since  it  is 
apparently  quite  an  easy  thing ,  with  a  little 
occult  knowledge,  to  do  the  witch  to  death! 
Throughout  many  centuries  witches  in  the  long 
run  always  seem  to  come  off  second  best.  Faith 
and  fear  in  their  victims  seem  to  lend  them 
strength,  just  as  faith  and  love  help  righteous¬ 
ness .” 

Not  very  many  years  ago  a  farmer  and  his  wife 
who  lived  in  the  country  just  outside  Milan  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  their  daughter,  who  had 
long  been  suffering  from  a  mysterious  ailment, 
which  the  best  doctors  in  Milan  seemed  unable  to 
diagnose  and  cure,  was  bewitched  by  an  old 
woman  dwelling  in  their  village,  a  wretch  of 
notoriously  bad  reputation,  whom  the  girl  had 
unwittingly  offended  in  some  small  way. 
Accordingly  they  resorted  to  a  “ wise  man,”  who 
lived  in  a  small  town  a  good  many  miles  distant. 
He  gave  them  a  bundle  of  herbs,  telling  them  to 
boil  these  in  water  and  at  the  same  time  to  recite 
a  certain  rune  or  rhyme  which  he  taught  them. 
He  told  them  that  if  their  daughter  was  indeed 
plagued  by  the  malice  of  some  individual ,  as  the 
water  boiled  the  witch  who  had  cast  the  spell 
would  be  so  tormented  that  she  would  hasten  to 
their  house  and  betray  herself  by  begging  them  to 
take  the  cauldron  from  the  fue.  They  could  then 
refuse  to  do  so  unless  she  ait  once  relieved  the  girl 
from  her  sickness.  They  precisely  obeyed  the 
directions  which  had  been  given,  and  hardly  had 
the  water  begun  to  bubble  with  the  heat  than 
there  came  running  the  hag  whom  they  had 
suspected ,  imploring  them  with  every  symptom  of 
intense  agony  to  throw  away  the  contents  of  the 
pot.  This  they  would  not  do  unless  the  charm 
was  broken.  In  her  despair  the  old  woman 
promised  to  restore  their  daughter  to  health,  and 
from  that  time  the  child  rapidly  began  to  mend 
until  she  was  as  stout  and  sturdy  as  any  lass  in 
the  whole  country-side. 


163 

without  their  permission,  even  after  the 
service  is  finished.  And  they  do  it  in 
this  way.  On  a  Sunday  they  smear  the 
shoes  of  the  young  men  with  grease, 
lard  or  pigs’  fat,  as  is  their  wont  when 
they  wish  to  repair  and  renew  the 
freshness  of  the  leather,  and  thus  the 
juvenals  enter  the  church,  whence  it  is 
impossible  for  any  witches  who  are  ) 
present  to  make  their  way  out  or  depart 
until  those  who  are  anxious  to  espy 
them  either  go  away  themselves  or  give 
them  express  leave  to  make  their  way 
to  their  homes. f 

It  is  the  same  with  certain  words, 
which  it  is  not  expedient  to  mention 
lest  anyone  should  be  seduced  by  the 
devil  to  use  them.  For  judges  and 
magistrates  should  not  attach  too  much 
weight  to  the  evidence  of  those  who 
pretend  to  discover  witches  by  this 
means,  for  fear  lest  the  devil,  that  wily 
enemy,  should  induce  them  under  this 
pretext  to  defame  innocent  women. 
Therefore  such  persons  must  be  en¬ 
joined  to  seek  the  remedy  of  penitence. 
However,  practices  of  this  kind  are  on 
occasion  to  be  tolerated  and  allowed. 

In  this  way  we  have  answered  the 
arguments  that  no  spell  of  witchcraft 
must  be  removed.  For  the  first  two 
remedies  are  altogether  unlawful.  The 
third  remedy  is  tolerated  by  the  law, 
but  needs  very  careful  examination  on 
the  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  judge.  And 
what  the  civil  law  tolerates  is  shown  in 
the  chapter  on  witches,  where  it  is  said 
that  those  who  have  skill  to  prevent 
men’s  labours  from  being  vitiated  by 
tempests  and  hailstorms  are  worthy, 
not  of  punishment,  but  of  reward. 

S.  Antoninus  also,  in  his  Summa ,  points 
out  this  discrepancy  between  the  Canon 
Law  and  civil  law.  Therefore  it  seems 


f  The  text  of  this  passage  seems  corrupt  and 
varies  considerably  in  the  later  editions.  The 
earliest  edition  of  the  “ Maileus”__in  the  British 
Museum  reads:  “ Nam  die  dnico  sotularia 
iuuenu  fungia  seu  pinguedie  porci  vt  moris  e  p 
restauiatoe  fieri  pungut  et  sic  vbi  ecclesia  intrat 
tadiu  malefice  exire  eccias  non  poterut  quo 
adusq:  exploratores  aut  exeunt  aut  illis  licentia 
sub  expssione  ut  sup  exeundi  pee  dat.”  “ Die 
dnico ”  was  almost  immediately  altered  to  “ die 
dominica.”  The  usual  reading  is  “ die  Dominica 
Sotularia,  iuuenum  fungia  .  .  .”  Venice,  /576, 
introduces  a  fresh  error:  “ die  dominica  Solutaria 
iuuenum  fungia.  .  .  .”  The  Lyons  text  of  i66g 
has  an  excellent  emendation,  which  is,  no  doubt, 
correct:  “ die  Dominica  Sotularia  iuuenum 
axungia.  ...” 


164 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2-.  Gh.  1 


that  the  civil  law  concedes  the  legality 
of  such  practices  for  the  preservation 
of  crops  and  cattle,  and  that  in  any 
event  certain  men  who  use  such  arts 
are  not  only  to  be  tolerated  but  even 
rewarded.  Wherefore  the  ecclesiastical 
judge  must  take  particular  note  whether 
the  methods  used  in  counteraction  of 
hailstorms  and  tempests  are  within  the 
spirit  of  the  law,  or  whether  they  are 
in  any  way  superstitious;  and  then,  if 
no  scandal  to  the  Faith  is  involved, 
they  can  be  tolerated.  But  actually  this 
does  not  belong  to  the  third  method, 
but  to  the  fourth,  and  also  to  the  fifth, 
of  which  we  shall  speak  later  in  the 
following  chapters,  where  we  deal  with 
the  ecclesiastical  and  lawful  remedies, 
with  which  are  sometimes  included 
certain  superstitious  practices  belonging 
to  the  fourth  method. 

*  ☆ 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Remedies  prescribed  by  Holy  Church 
against  Incubus  and  Succubus  Devils. 

IN  the  foregoing  chapters  on  the 
First  Question  we  have  treated  of 
the  methods  of  bewitching  men,  animals 
and  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  and  espe¬ 
cially  of  the  behaviour  of  witches  in 
their  own  persons ;  how  they  seduce 
young  girls  in  order  to  increase  their 
evil  numbers;  what  is  their  method  of 
profession  and  of  offering  homage ; 
how  they  offer  to  devils  their  own  chil¬ 
dren  and  the  children  of  others;  and 
how  they  are  transported  from  place 
to  place.  Now  I  say  that  there  is 
no  remedy  for  such  practices,  unless 
witches  be  entirely  eradicated  by  the 
judges,  or  at  least  punished  as  an 
example  to  all  who  may  wish  to 
imitate  them ;  but  we  are  not  imme¬ 
diately  treating  of  this  point,  which 
will  be  dealt  with  in  the  last  Part  of 
this  work,  where  we  set  forth  the 
twenty  ways  of  proceeding  against  and 
sentencing  witches. 

For  the  present  we  are  concerned 
only  with  the  remedies  against  the 
injuries  which  they  inflict ;  and  first 
how  men  who  are  bewitched  can  be 
cured ;  secondly,  beasts,  and  thirdly, 
how  the  fruits  of  the  earth  may  be 
secured  from  blight  or  phylloxera. 

With  regard  to  the  bewitchment  of 


human  beings  by  means  of  Incubus  and 
Succubus  devils,  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
this  can  happen  in  three  ways.  First, 
as  in  the  case  of  witches  themselves, 
when  women  voluntarily  prostitute 
themselves  to  Incubus  devils.  Secondly; 
when  men  have  connexion  with  Succu¬ 
bus  devils;  yet  it  does  not  appear  that 
men  thus  devilishly  fornicate  with  the 
same  full  degree  of  culpability;  for 
men,  being  by  nature  intellectually 
stronger  than  women,  are  more  apt  to 
abhor  such  practices.  Thirdly,  it  may 
happen  that  men  or  women  are  by 
witchcraft  entangled  with  Incubi  or 
Succubi  against  their  will.  This  chiefly 
happens  in  the  case  of  certain  virgins 
who  are  molested  by  Incubus  devils 
wholly  against  their  will ;  and  it  would 
seem  that  such  are  bewitched  by 
witches  who,  just  as  they  very  often 
cause  other  infirmities,  cause  devils  to 
molest  such  virgins  in  the  form  of 
Incubi  for  the  purpose  of  seducing 
them  into  joining  their  vile  company. 
Let  us  give  an  example. 

There  is  in  the  town  of  Coblenz  a 

?oor  man  who  is  bewitched  in  this  way. 

n  the  presence  of  his  wife  he  is  in  the 
habit  of  acting  after  the  manner  of 
men  with  women,  that  is  to  say,  of 
practising  coition,  as  it  were,  and  he 
continues  to  do  this  repeatedly,  nor 
have  the  cries  and  urgent  appeals  of 
his  wife  any  effect  in  making  him  desist. 
And  after  he  has  fornicated  thus  two  or 
three  times,  he  bawls  out,  “We  are 
going  to  start  all  over  again” ;  when 
actually  there  is  no  person  visible  to 
mortal  sight  lying  with  him.  And  after 
an  incredible  number  of  such  bouts, 
the  poor  man  at  last  sinks  to  the  floor 
utterly  exhausted.  When  he  has  re¬ 
covered  his  strength  a  little  and  is 
asked  how  this  has  happened  to  him, 
and  whether  he  has  had  any  woman 
with  him,  he  answers  that  he  saw 
nothing,  but  that  his  mind  is  in  some 
way  possessed  so  that  he  can  by  no 
means  refrain  from  such  priapism.  And 
indeed  he  harbours  a  great  suspicion 
that  a  certain  woman  bewitched  him 
in  this  way,  because  he  had  offended 
her,  and  she  had  cursed  him  with 
threatening  words,  telling  him  what 
she  would  like  to  happen  to  him. 

But  there  are  no  laws  or  ministers  of  f 
justice  which  can  proceed  to  the 
avenging  of  so  great  a  crime  with  no 
other  warrant  than  a  vague  charge  or 
a  grave  suspicion;  for  it  is  held  that 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  1 


MALEFICARUM 


165 


no  one  ought  to  be  condemned  unless 
he  has  been  convicted  by  his  own  con¬ 
fession,  or  by  the  evidence  of  three 
trustworthy  witnesses ;  since  the  mere 
fact  of  the  crime  coupled  with  even  the 
gravest  suspicions  against  some  person 
is  not  sufficient  to  warrant  the  punish¬ 
ment  of  that  person.  But  this  matter 
will  be  dealt  with  later. 

As  for  instances  where  young  maidens 
are  molested  by  Incubus  devils  in  this 
way,  it  would  take  too  long  to  mention 
even  those  that  have  been  known  to 
happen  in  our  own  time,  for  there  are 
very  many  well-attested  stories  of  such 
bewitchments.  But  the  great  difficulty 
of  finding  a  remedy  for  such  afflictions 
can  be  illustrated  from  a  story  told 
by  Thomas  of  Brabant  in  his  Book  on 
Bees. 

I  saw,  he  writes,  and  heard  the  con¬ 
fession  of  a  virgin  in  a  religious  habit, 
who  said  at  first  that  she  had  never 
been  a  consenting  party  to  fornication, 
but  at  the  same  time  gave  me  to  under¬ 
stand  that  she  had  been  known  in  this 
way.  This  I  could  not  believe,  but 
narrowly  charged  and  exhorted  her, 
with  the  most  solemn  adjurations,  to 
speak  the  truth  on  peril  of  her  very 
soul.  At  last,  weeping  bitterly,  she 
acknowledged  that  she  had  been  cor¬ 
rupted  rather  in  mind  than  in  body; 
and  that  though  she  had  afterwards 
grieved  almost  to  death,  and  had  daily 
confessed  with  tears,  yet  by  no  device 
or  study  or  art  could  she  be  delivered 
from  an  Incubus*  devil,  nor  yet  by  the 
sign  of  the  Cross,  nor  by  Holy  Water, 
which  are  specially  ordained  for  the 
expulsion  of  devils,  nor  even  by  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Body  of  Our  Lord, 
which  even  the  Angels  fear.  But  at  last 
after  many  years  of  prayer  and  fasting 
she  was  delivered. 

It  may  be  believed  (saving  a  better 
judgement)  that,  after  she  repented  and 
confessed  her  sin,  the  Incubus  devil 
should  be  regarded  rather  in  the  light 
of  a  punishment  for  sin  than  as  a  sin 
xn  itself. 

A  devout  nun,  named  Christina,  in 
the  Low  Country  of  the  Duchy  of 

*  “Incubus  ”  Sinistrari  tells  of  a  case  which 
came  under  his  own  notice  when  a  deacon ,  a  monk 
of  the  Certosa  at  Pavia,  was  sorely  vexed  by  an 
Incubus.  Exorcisms  seemed  unavailing;  the 
Incubus  himself  in  the  shape  of  Father  Prior 
blessed  the  place  with  Holy  Water.  However, 
the  demon  was  at  last  banished.  See  my  trans¬ 
lation,  “Demoniality,”  pp.  57-59,  and  passim. 


Brabant,  told  me  the  following  con¬ 
cerning  this  same  woman.  On  the  vigil 
of  one  Pentecost  the  woman  came  to 
her  complaining  that  she  dared  not 
take  the  Sacrament  because  of  the  im¬ 
portunate  molestation  of  a  devil. 
Christina,  pitying  her,  said :  “Go,  and 
rest  assured  that  you  will  receive  the 
Body  of  Our  Lord  to-morrow;  for  I 
will  take  your  punishment  upon  my¬ 
self.”  So  she  went  away  joyfully,  and 
after  praying  that  night  slept  in  peace, 
and  rose  up  in  the  morning  and  com¬ 
municated  in  all  tranquillity  of  soul. 
But  Christina,  not*  thinking  of  the 
punishment  she  had  taken  upon  her¬ 
self,  went  to  her  rest  in  the  evening,  and 
as  she  lay  in  bed  heard,  as  it  were,  a 
violent  attack  being  made  upon  her; 
and,  seizing  whatever  it  was  by  the 
throat,  tried  to  throw  it  off.  She  lay 
down  again,  but  was  again  molested, 
and  rose  up  in  terror;  and  this  hap¬ 
pened  many  times,  whilst  all  the  straw 
of  her  bed  was  turned  over  and  thrown 
about  everywhere,  so  at  length  she  per¬ 
ceived  that  she  was  being  persecuted  by 
the  malice  of  a  devil.  Thereupon  she 
left  her  pallet,  and  passed  a  sleepless 
night;  and  when  she  wished  to  pray, 
she  was  so  tormented  by  the  devil  that 
she  said  she  had  never  suffered  so  much 
before.  In  the  morning,  therefore,  say¬ 
ing  to  the  other  woman,  “I  renounce 
your  punishment,  and  I  am  hardly 
alive  to  renounce  it,”  she  escaped  from 
the  violence  of  that  wicked  tempter. 
From  this  it  can  be  seen  how  difficult 
it  is  to  cure  this  sort  of  evil,  whether  or 
not  it  is  due  to  witchcraft. 

However,  there  are  still  some  means 
by  which  these  devils  may  be  driven 
away,  of  which  Nider  writes  in  his 
Formicarius.  He  says  that  there  are  five 
ways  by  which  girls  or  men  can  be 
delivered:  first,  by  Sacramental  Con¬ 
fession;  second,  by  the  Sacred  Sign  of 
the  Cross,  or  by  the  recital  of  the 
Angelic  Salutation;  third,  by  the  use 
of  exorcisms;  fourth,  by  moving  to 
another  place;  and  fifth,  by  means  of 
excbmmunication  prudently  employed 
by  holy  men.  It  is  evident  from  what 
has  been  said  that  the  first  two  methods 
did  not  avail  the  nun ;  but  they  are  not 
on  that  account  to  be  neglected,  for 
that  which  cures  one  person  does  not 
necessarily  cure  another,  and  conversely. 
And  it  is  a  recorded  fact  that  Incubus 
devils  have  often  been  driven  away  by 
the  Lord’s  Prayer,  or  by  the  sprinkling 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  1 


166 

of  Holy  Water,  and  also  especially  by 
the  Angelic  Salutation. 

For  S.  Gaesarius*  tells  in  his  Dialogue 
that,  after  a  certain  priest  had  hanged 
himself,  his  concubine  entered  a  con¬ 
vent,  where  she  was  carnally  solicited 
by  an  Incubus.  She  drove  him  away 
by  crossing  herself  and  using  Holy 
Water,  yet  he  immediately  returned. 
But  when  she  recited  the  Angelic 
Salutation,  he  vanished  like  an  arrow 
shot  from  a  bow;  still  he  came  back, 
although  he  did  not  dare  to  come  near 
her,  because  of  that  Ave  MARIA. 

S.  Caesarius  also  refers  to  the  remedy 
of  Sacramental  Confession.  For  he  says 
that  the  aforesaid  concubine  was  en¬ 
tirely  abandoned  by  the  Incubus  after 
she  was  clean  confessed.  He  tells  also 
of  a  man  in  Leyden  who  was  plagued 
by  a  Succubus,  and  was  entirely  de¬ 
livered  after  Sacramental  Confession. 

He  adds  yet  another  example,  of  an 
enclosed  nun,  a  contemplative,  whom 
an  Incubus  would  not  leave  in  spite  of 
prayers  and  confession  and  other  re¬ 
ligious  exercises.  For  he  persisted  in 
forcing  his  way  to  her  bed.  But  when, 
acting  on  the  advice  of  a  certain  re¬ 
ligious  man,  she  uttered  the  word  Bene¬ 
dicite,  the  devil  at  once  left  her. 

Of  the  fourth  method,  that  of  moving 
to  another  place,  he  says  that  a  certain 
priest’s  daughter  had  been  defiled  by 
an  Incubus  and  driven  frantic  with 
grief;  but  when  she  went  far  away 
across  the  Rhine,  she  was  left  in  peace 
by  the  Incubus.  Her  father,  however, 
because  he  had  sent  her  away,  was  so 
afflicted  by  the  devil  that  he  died  within 
three  days. 

He  also  mentions  a  woman  who  was 
often  molested  by  an  Incubus  in  her 
own  bed,  and  asked  a  devout  friend  of 
hers  to  come  and  sleep  with  her.  She 
did  so,  and  was  troubled  all  night  with 
the  utmost  uneasiness  and  disquiet,  and 
then  the  first  woman  was  left  in  peace. 

*  “Caesarius .”  A  learned  monk  of  the 
Cistercian  monastery  of  Heisterhach  near  Bonn, 
born  about  nyo  at  Cologne,  died  about  124.0  as 
Prior  of  Heisterbach.  Abbot  Henry  requested 
Caesarius  to  draw  up  an  abstract  of  his  teaching, 
and  this  resulted  in  the  famous  “ Dialogus  magnus 
uisionum  atque  miraculorum,  Libri  XII f  which 
it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  was  probably  the 
most  popular  book  in  Germany  of  its  period. 
More  than  fifty  MSS.  are  extant,  and  seven 
printed  editions  are  known.  The  latest ,  two 
volumes,  was  edited  by  Strange,  Cologne,  i8ji; 
an  index  to  this  followed,  Coblenz,  1857. 


William  of  Paris  notes  also  that  Incubi 
seem  chiefly  to  molest  women  and  girls 
with  beautiful  hair ;  either  because  they 
devote  themselves  too  much  to  the  care 
and  adornment  of  their  hair,  or  be¬ 
cause  they  are  wont  to  try  to  excite 
men  by  means  of  their  hair,  or  because 
they  are  boastfully  vain  about  it,  or 
because  God  in  His  goodness  permits 
this  so  that  women  may  be  afraid  to 
entice  men  by  the  very  means  by  which 
the  devils  wish  them  to  entice  men. 

The  fifth  method,  that  of  excom¬ 
munication,  which  is  perhaps  the  same 
as  exorcism,  is  exemplified  in  a  history 
of  S.  Bernard.  In  Aquitaine  a  woman 
had  for  six  years  been  molested  by  an 
Incubus  with  incredible  carnal  abuse 
and  lechery ;  and  she  heard  the  Incubus 
threaten  her  that  she  must  not  go  near 
the  holy  man,  who  was  coming  that 
way,  saying :  “It  will  avail  you  nothing : 
for  when  he  has  gone  away,  I,  who  have  \ 
till  now  been  your  lover,  will  become  I 
the  cruellest  of  tyrants  to  you.”  None) 
the  less  she  went  to  S.  Bernard,  and  he 
said  to  her:  “Take  my  staff  and  set  it 
in  your  bed,  and  may  the  devil  do 
what  he  can.”  When  she  had  done  this, 
the  devil  did  not  dare  to  enter  the 
woman’s  room,  but  threatened  her 
terribly  from  outside,  saying  that  he 
would  persecute  her  when  S.  Bernard 
had  gone  away.  When  S..  Bernard 
heard  this  from  the  woman,  he  called 
the  people  together,  bidding  them 
carry  lighted  candles  in  their  hands, 
and,  with  the  whole  assembly  which 
was  gathered,  excommunicated  the 
devil,  forbidding  him  evermore  to 
approach  that  woman  or  any  other. 
And  so  she  was  delivered  from  that 
punishment. 

Here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  power 
of  the  Keys  granted  to  S.  Peter  and 
his  successors,  which  resounds  on  the 
earth,  is  really  a  power  of  healing 
granted  to  the  Church  on  behalf  of 
travellers  who  are  subject  to  the  juris¬ 
diction  of  the  Papal  power;  therefore 
it  seems  wonderful  that  even  the  Powers 
of  the  air  can  be  warded  off  by  this 
virtue.  But  it  must  be  remembered 
that  persons  who  are  molested  by  devils 
are  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope 
and  his  Keys;  and  therefore  it  is  not 
surprising  if  such  Powers  are  indirectly 
kept  at  bay  by  the  virtue  of  the  Keys, 
just  as  by  the  same  virtue  the  souls  in 
purgatory  can  indirectly  be  delivered 
from  the  pains  of  the  fire ;  inasmuch  as 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  2  MALEFICARUM 


167 


this  Power  availeth  upon  the  earth, 
ay,  and  to  the  relief  of  souls  that  are 
under  the  earth. 

But  it  is  not  seemly  to  discuss  the 
Power  of  the  Keys  granted  to  the  Head 
of  the  Church  as  Christ’s  Vicar ;  since 
it  is  known  that,  for  the  use  of  the 
Church,  Christ  granted  to  the  Church 
and  His  Vicar  as  much  power  as  it  is 
possible  for  God  to  grant  to  mere  man. 

And  it  is  piously  to  be  believed  that, 
when  infirmities  inflicted  by  witches 
through  the  power  of  devils,  together 
with  the  witches  and  devils  themselves, 
are  excommunicated,  those  who  were 
afflicted  will  no  longer  be  tormented; 
and  that  they  will  be  delivered  all  the 
sooner  by  the  use  of  other  lawful 
exorcisms  in  addition. 

There  is  a  common  report  current  in 
the  districts  of  the  river  Etsch,  as  also 
in  other  places,  that  by  the  permission 
of  God  a  swarm  of  locusts  came  and 
devoured  all  the  vines,  green  leaves 
and  crops;  and  that  they  were  sud- 
denly  put  to  flight  and  dispersed  by 
means  of  this  kind  of  excommunica¬ 
tion  and  cursing.  Now  if  any  wish  that 
this  should  be  ascribed  to  some  holy 
man,  and  not  to  the  virtue  of  the  Keys, 
let  it  be  so,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ; 
but  of  one  thing  we  are  certain,  that 
both  the  power  to  perform  miracles  and 
the  power  of  the  Keys  necessarily  pre¬ 
suppose  a  condition  of  grace  in  him 
who  performs  that  act  of  grace,  since 
both  these  powers  proceed  from  grace 
granted  to  men  who  are  in  a  state  of 
grace. 

Again,  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  if  none 
of  the  aforesaid  remedies  are  of  any 
avail,  then  recourse  must  be  had  to 
the  usual  exorcisms,  of  which  we  shall 
treat  later.  And  if  even  these  are  not 
sufficient  to  banish  the  iniquity  of  the 
devil,  then  that  affliction  must  be  con¬ 
sidered  to  be  an  expiatory  punishment 
for  sin,  which  should  be  borne  in  all 
meekness,  as  are  other  ills  of  this  sort 
which  oppress  us  that  they  may,  as  it 
were,  drive  us  to  seek  God. 

But  it  must  also  be  remarked  that 
sometimes  persons  only  think  that  they 
are  molested  by  an  Incubus  when  they 
are  not  so  actually;  and  this  is  more 
apt  to  be  the  case  with  women  than 
'  with  men,  for  they  are  more  timid  and 
liable  to  imagine  extraordinary  things. 

In  this  connexion  William  of  Paris  is 
often  quoted.  He  says :  Many  phan- 
tastical  apparitions  occur  to  persons 


suffering  from  a  melancholy  disease, 
especially  to  women,  as  is  shown  by 
their  dreams  and  visions.  And  the 
reason  for  this,  as  physicians  know,  is 
that  women’s  souls  are  by  nature  far 
more  easily  and  lightly  impressionable 
than  men’s  souls.  And  he  adds :  I  know 
that  I  have  seen  a  woman  who  thought 
that  a  devil  copulated  with  her  from 
inside,  and  said  she  was  physically 
conscious  of  such  incredible  things. 

At  times  also  women  think  they  have 
been  made  pregnant  by  an  Incubus, 
and  their  bellies  grow  to  an  enormous 
size ;  but  when  the  time  of  parturition 
comes,  their  swelling  is  relieved  by  no 
more  than  the  expulsion  of  a  great 
quantity  of  wind.  For  by  taking  ants’ 
eggs  in  drink,  or  the  seeds  of  spurge  or 
of  the  black  pine,  an  incredible  amount 
of  wind  and  flatulence  is  generated  in 
the  human  stomach.  And  it  is  very  easy 
for  the  devil  to  cause  these  and  even 
greater  disorders  in  the  stomach.  This 
has  been  set  down  in  order  that  too 
easy  credence  should  not  be  given  to 
women,  but  only  to  those  whom  ex¬ 
perience  has  shown  to  be  trustworthy, 
and  to  those  who,  by  sleeping  in  their 
beds  or  near  by  them,  know  for  a  fact 
that  such  things  as  we  have  spoken  of 
are  true. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  II 

Remedies  prescribed  for  Those  who  are 
Bewitched  by  the  Limitation  of  the 
Generative  Power. 

ALTHOUGH  far  more  women  are 
witches  than  men,  as  was  shown 
in  the  First  Part  of  the  work,  yet  men 
are  more  often  bewitched  than  women. 
And  the  reason  for  this  lies  in  the  fact 
that  God  allows  the  devil  more  power 
over  the  venereal  act,  by  which  the 
original  sin  is  handed  down,  than  over 
other  human  actions.  In  the  same  way 
He  allows  more  witchcraft  to  be  per¬ 
formed  by  means  of  serpents,  which 
are  more  subject  to  incantations  than 
other  animals,  because  that  was  the 
first  instrument  of  the  devil.  And  the 
venereal  act  can  be  more  readily  and 
easily  bewitched  in  a  man  than  in  a 
woman,  as  has  been  clearly  shown.  For 
there  are  five  ways  in  which  the  devil 
can  impede  the  act  of  generation,  and 
they  are  more  easily  operated  against 
men. 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Gh.  2 


168 


As  far  as  possible  we  shall  set  out  the 
remedies  which  can  be  applied  in  each 
separate  kind  of  obstruction ;  and  let 
him  who  is  bewitched  in  this  faculty 
take  note  to  which  class  of  obstruction 
his  belongs.  For  there  are  five  classes, 
according  to  Peter  a  Palude  in  his 
Fourth  Book,  dist.  34,  of  the  trial  of 
this  sort  of  bewitchment. 

For  the  devil,  being  a  spirit,  has  by 
his  very  nature  power,  with  God’s  per¬ 
mission,  over  a  bodily  creature,  espe¬ 
cially  to  promote  or  to  prevent  local 
motion.  So  by  this  power  they  can  pre¬ 
vent  the  bodies  of  men  and  women 
from  approaching  each  other;  and  this 
either  directly  or  indirectly.  Directly, 
when  they  remove  one  to  a  distance 
from  another,  and  do  not  allow  him  to 
approach  the  other.  Indirectly,  when 
they  cause  some  obstruction,  or  when 
they  interpose  themselves  in  an  assumed 
body.  So  it  happened  to  that  young 
Pagan  who  had  married  an  idol,  but 
none  the  less  contracted  a  marriage 
with  a  girl ;  but  because  of  this  he  was 
unable  to  copulate  with  her,  as  has 
been  shown  above. 

Secondly,  the  devil  can  inflame  a 
man  towards  one  woman  and  render 
him  impotent  towards  another;  and 
this  he  can  secretly  cause  by  the  applica¬ 
tion  of  certain  herbs  or  other  matters 
of  which  he  well  knows  the  virtue  for 
this  purpose. 

Thirdly,  he  can  disturb  the  apper¬ 
ception  of  a  man  or  a  woman,  so  that 
he  makes  one  appear  hideous  to  the 
other;  for,  as  has  been  shown,  he  can 
influence  the  imagination. 

Fourthly,  he  can  suppress  the  vigour 
of  that  member  which  is  necessary  for 
procreation;  just  as  he  can  deprive  any 
organ  of  the  power  of  local  motion. 

Fifthly,  he  can  prevent  the  flow  of 
the  semen  to  the  members  in  which  is 
the  motive  power,  by  as  it  were  closing 
the  seminal  duct  so  that  it  does  not 
descend  to  the  genital  vessels,  or  does 
not  ascend  again  from  them,  or  cannot 
come  forth,  or  is  spent  vainly. 

But  if  a  man  should  say:  I  do  not 
know  by  which  of  these  different 
methods  I  have  been  bewitched;  all  I 
know  is  that  I  cannot  do  anything  with 
my  wife :  he  should  be  answered  in  this 
j  way.  If  he  is  active  and  able  with  regard 
to  other  women,  but  not  with  his  wife, 
then  he  is  bewitched  in  the  second  way ; 
for  he  can  be  certified  as  to  the  first 
way,  that  he  is  being  deluded  by 


Succubus  or  Incubus  devils.  Moreover, 
if  he  does  not  find  his  wife  repellent, 
and  yet  cannot  know  her,  bjit  can  know 
other  women,  then  again  it  is  the  second 
way;  but  if  he  finds  her  repellent  and 
cannot  copulate  with  her,  then  it  is  the 
second  and  the  third  way.  If  he  does 
not  find  her  repellent  and  wishes  to 
have  connexion  with  her,  but  has  no 
power  in  his  member,  then  it  is  the 
fourth  way.  But  if  he  has  power  in  his 
member,  yet  cannot  emit  his  semen, 
then  it  is  the  fifth  way.  The  method  of 
curing  these  will  be  shown  where  we 
consider  whether  those  who  live  in 
grace  and  those  who  do  not  «are  equally 
liable  to  be  bewitched  in  these  manners ; 
and  we  answer  that  they  are  not,  with 
the  exception  of  the  fourth  manner,  and 
even  then  very  rarely.  For  such  an 
affliction  can  happen  to  a  man  living 
in  grace  and  righteousness;  but  the 
reader  must  understand  that  in  this 
case  we  speak  of  the  conjugal  act 
between  married  people;  for  in  any 
other  case  they  are  all  liable  to  be¬ 
witchment  ;  for  every  venereal  act  out¬ 
side  wedlock  is  a  mortal  sin,  and  is  only 
committed  by  those  who  are  not  in  a 
state  of  grace. 

We  have,  indeed,  the  authority  of 
the  whole  of  Scriptural  teaching  that 
God  allows  the  devil  to  afflict  sinners 
more  than  the  just.  For  although  that 
most  just  man,  Job,  was  stricken,  yet 
he  was  not  so  particularly  or  directly 
in  respect  of  the  procreant  function. 
And  it  may  be  said  that,  when  a 
married  couple  are  afflicted  in  this  way, 
either  both  the  parties  or  one  of  them 
is  not  living  in  a  state  of  grace;  and 
this  opinion  is  substantiated  in  the 
Scriptures  both  by  authority  and  by 
reason.  For  the  Angel  said  to  Tobias  :* 
The  devil  receives  power  against  those 
who  are  given  over  to  lust:  and  he 
proved  it  in  the  slaying  of  the  seven 
husbands  of  the  virgin  Sara. 

Cassian,  in  his  Collation  of  the 
Fathers ,  quotes  S.  Antony  as  saying 
that  the  devil  can  in  no  way  enter  our 
mind  or  body  unless  he  has  first  de- 

*  “Tobias.”  “ Tobias ”  vi,  16  and  /7:  Then 
the  angel  Raphael  said  to  him:  Hear  me ,  and  I 
will  show  thee  who  they  are,  over  whom  the 
devil  can  prevail.  For  they  who  in  such  manner 
receive  matrimony  as  to  shut  out  God  from  them¬ 
selves ,  and  from  their  mind,  and  to  give  them¬ 
selves  to  their  lust,  as  the  horse  and  mule,  which 
have  not  understanding,  over  them  the  devil  hath 
power. 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  2 


MALEFICARUM 


169 


prived  it  of  all  holy  thoughts  and  made 
it  empty  and  bare  of  spiritual  contem¬ 
plation.  These  words  should  not  be 
applied  to  an  evil  affliction  over  the 
whole  of  the  body,  for  when  Job  was 
so  afflicted  he  was  not  denuded  of 
Divine  grace ;  but  they  have  particular 
reference  to  a  particular  infirmity  in¬ 
flicted  upon  the  body  for  some  sin. 
And  the  infirmity  we  are  considering 
can  only  be  due  to  the  sin  of  incon¬ 
tinence.  For,  as  we  have  said,  God 
allows  the  devil  more  power  over  that 
act  than  over  other  human  acts, 
because  of  its  natural  nastiness,  and 
because  by  it  the  first  sin  was  handed 
down  to  posterity.  Therefore  when 
people  joined  in  matrimony  have  for 
some  sin  been  deprived  of  Divine  help, 
God  allows  them  to  be  bewitched 
chiefly  in  their  procreant  functions. 

But  if  it  is  asked  of  what  sort  are 
those  sins,  it  can  be  said,  according  to 
S.  Jerome,  that  even  in  a  state  of  matri¬ 
mony  it  is  possible  to  commit  the  sin  of 
incontinence  in  various  ways.  See  the 
text :  He  who  loves  his  wife  to  excess  is 
an  adulterer.  And  they  who  love  in 
this  way  are  more  liable  to  be  be¬ 
witched  after  the  manner  we  have  said. 

The  remedies  of  the  Church,  then, 
are  twofold :  one  applicable  in  the 
public  court,  the  other  in  the  tribunal 
of  the  confessional.  As  for  the  first, 
when  it  has  been  publicly  found  that 
the  impotence  is  due  to  witchcraft,  then 
it  must  be  distinguished  whether  it  is 
temporary  or  permanent.  If  it  is  only 
temporary,  ii  does  not  annul  the  mar¬ 
riage.  And  it  is  assumed  to  be  tem¬ 
porary  if,  within  the  space  of  three 
years,  by  using  every  possible  expedient 
of  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church  and 
other  remedies,  a  cure  can  be  caused. 
But  if,  after  that  time,  they  cannot  be 
cured  by  any  remedy,  then  it  is  assumed 
to  be  permanent. 

Now  the  disability  either  precedes 
both  the  contract  and  the  consummation 
of  marriage ;  and  in  this  case  it  impedes 
the  contract :  or  it  follows  the  contract 
but  precedes  the  consummation;  and 
in  this  case  it  annuls  the  contract.  For 
men  are  very  often  bewitched  in  this 
way  because  they  have  cast  off  their 
former  mistresses,  who,  hoping  that 
they  were  to  be  married  and  being 
disappointed,  so  bewitch  the  men  that 
they  cannot  copulate  with  another 
woman.  And  in  such  a  case,  according 
to  the  opinion  of  many,  the  marriage 

N 


already  contracted  is  annulled,  unless, 
like  Our  Blessed  Lady  and  S.  Joseph, 
they  are  willing  to  live  together  in  holy 
continence.  This  opinion  is  supported 
by  the  Canon  where  it  says  (23,  q.  1) 
that  a  marriage  is  confirmed  by  the 
carnal  act.  And  a  little  later  it  says 
that  impotence  before  such  confirma¬ 
tion  dissolves  the  ties  of  marriage. 

Or  else  the  disability  follows  the  con¬ 
summation  of  a  marriage,  and  then  it 
does  not  dissolve  the  bonds  of  matri¬ 
mony.  Much  more  to  this  effect  is 
noted  by  the  Doctors,  where  in  various 
writings  they  treat  of  the  obstruction 
due  to  witchcraft;  but  since  it  is  not 
precisely  relevant  to  the  present  inquiry, 
it  is  here  omitted.  * 

But  some  may  find  it  difficult  to 
understand  how  this  function  can  be 
obstructed  in  respect  of  one  woman  but 
not  of  another.  S.  Bonaventura  answers 
that  this  may  be  because  some  witch 
has  persuaded  the  devil  to  effect  this 
only  with  respect  to  one  woman,  or 
because  God  will  not  allow  the  obstruc¬ 
tion  to  apply  save  to  some  particular 
woman.  The  judgement  of  God  in  this 
matter  is  a  mystery,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  wife  of  Tobias.  But  how  the  devil 
procures  this  disability  is  plainly  shown 
by  what  has  already  been  said.  And 
S.  Bonaventura  says  that  he  obstructs 
the  procreant  function,  not  intrinsically 
by  harming  the  organ,  but  extrinsically 
by  impeding  its  use ;  and  it  is  an 
artificial,  not  a  natural  impediment; 
and  so  he  can  cause  it  to  apply  to  one 
woman  and  not  to  another.  Or  else  he 
takes  away  all  desire  for  one  or  another 
woman;  and  this  he  does  by  his  own 
power,  or  else  by  means  of  some  herb 
or  stone  or  some  occult  creature.  And 
in  this  he  is  in  substantial  agreement 
with  Peter  a  Palude. 

The  ecclesiastical  remedy  in  the 
tribunal  of  God  is  set  forth  in  the 
Canon  where  it  says :  If  with  the  per¬ 
mission  of  the  just  and  secret  judgement 
of  God,  through  the  arts  of  sorceresses 
and  witches  and  the  preparation  of  the 
devil,  men  are  bewitched  in  their  pro¬ 
creant  function,  they  are  to  be  urged 
to  make  clean  confession  to  God  and 
His  priest  of  all  their  sins  with  a  con¬ 
trite  heart  and  a  humble  spirit ;  and  to 
make  satisfaction  to  God  with  many 
tears  and  large  offerings  and  prayers 
and  fasting. 

From  these  words  it  is  clear  that  such 
afflictions  are  only  on  account  of  sin, 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Gh.  3 


170 

and  occur  only  to  those  who  do  not 
live  in  a  state  of  grace.  It  proceeds  to 
tell  how  the  ministers  of  the  Church 
can  effect  a  cure  by  means  of  exorcisms 
and  the  other  protections  and  cures 
provided  by  the  Church.  In  this  way, 
with  the  help  of  God,  Abraham  cured 
by  his  prayers  Abimelech  and  his 
house.* 

In  conclusion  we  may  say  that  there 
are  five  remedies  which  may  lawfully 
be  applied  to  those  who  are  bewitched 
in  this  way:  namely,  a  pilgrimage  to 
some  holy  and  venerable  shrine;  true 
confession  of  their  sins  with  contrition ; 
the  plentiful  use  of  the  sign  of  the  Cross 
and  devout  prayer ;  lawful  exorcism  by 
solemn  words,  the  nature  of  which  will 
be  explained  later ;  and  lastly,  a  remedy 
can  be  effected  by  prudently  approach¬ 
ing  the  witch,  as  was  shown  in  the  case 
of  the  Count  who  for  three  years  was 
unable  to  cohabit  carnally  with  a 
virgin  whom  he  had  married. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  III 

Remedies  prescribed  for  those  who  are  Be¬ 
witched  by  being  Inflamed  with  In¬ 
ordinate  Love  or  Extraordinary  Hatred. 

JUST  as  the  generative  faculty  can 
be  bewitched,  so  can  inordinate  love 
or  hatred  be  caused  in  the  human  mind. 
First  we  shall  consider  the  cause  of  this, 
and  then,  as  far  as  possible,  the 
remedies. 

Philocaptiony  or  inordinate  love  of  one 
person  for  another,  can  be  caused  in 
three  ways.  Sometimes  it  is  due  merely 
to  a  lack  of  control  over  the  eyes  ; 
sometimes  to  the  temptation  of  devils ; 
sometimes  to  the  spells  of  necromancers 
and  witches,  with  the  help  of  devils. 

The  first  is  spoken  of  in  S.  James  i. 
14,  15:  Every  man  is  tempted  by  his  own 
concupiscence,  being  drawn  away  and 
allured.  Then  when  concupiscence  hath 
conceived,  it  bringeth  forth  sin :  but 
sin,  when  it  is  completed,  begetteth 
death.  And  so,  when  Shechem  saw 
Dinah  going  out  to  see  the  daughters 
of  the  land,  he  loved  her,  and  ravished 
her,  and  lay  with  her,  and  his  soul 
clave  unto  her  ( Genesis  xxxiv).  And 
here  the  gloss  says  that  this  happened 
to  an  infirm  spirit  because  she  left  her 

*  “ Abimelech .”  “ Genesis ”  xx. 


own  concerns  to  inquire  into  those  of 
other  people ;  and  such  a  soul  is 
seduced  by  bad  habits,  and  is  led  to 
consent  to  unlawful  practices. 

The  second  cause  arises  from  the 
temptation  of  devils.  In  this  way  Am- 
non  loved  his  beautiful  sister  Tamar, 
and  was  so  vexed  that  he  fell  sick  for 
love  of  her  (ii.  Samuel  xiii).  For  he 
could  not  have  been  so  totally  corrupt 
in  his  mind  as  to  fall  into  so  great  a 
crime  of  incest  unless  he  Lad  been 
grievously  tempted  by  the  devil.  The 
book  of  the  Holy  Fathers  refers  to  this 
kind  of  love,  where  it  says  that  even  in 
their  hermitages  they  were  exposed  to 
every  temptation,  including  that  of 
carnal  desire;  for  some  of  them  were 
at  times  tempted  with  the  love  of 
women  more  than  it  is  possible  to 
believe.  S.  Paul  also  says,  in  II.  Cor¬ 
inthians  xii:  There  was  given  to  me  a 
thorn  in  the  flesh,  the  messenger  of 
Satan  to  buffet  me:  and  the  gloss 
explains  this  as  referring  to  the  tempta¬ 
tion  of  lust. 

But  it  is  said  that  when  a  man  does 
not  give  way  to  temptation  he  does  not 
sin,  but  it  is  an  exercise  for  his  virtue ; 
but  this  is  to  be  understood  of  the 
temptation  of  the  devil,  not  of  that  of 
the  flesh;  for  this  is  a  venial  sin  even 
if  a  man  does  not  yield  to  it.  Many 
examples  of  this  are  to  be  read. 

As  for  the  third  cause,  by  which 
inordinate  love  proceeds  from  devils’ 
and  witches’  works,  the  possibility  of 
this  sort  of  witchcraft  has  been  exhaus¬ 
tively  considered  in  the  Questions  of 
the  First  Part  as  to  whether  devils 
through  the  agency  of  witches  can  turn 
the  minds  of  men  to  inordinate  love  or 
hatred,  and  it  was  proved  by  examples 
which  had  fallen  within  our  own  ex¬ 
perience.  Indeed  this  is  the  best  known 
and  most  general  form  of  witchcraft. 

But  the  following  question  may  be 
asked :  Peter  has  been  seized  with  an 
inordinate  love  of  this  description,  but 
he  does  not  know  whether  it  is  due  to 
the  first  or  the  second  or  the  third 
cause.  It  must  be  answered  that  it  can 
be  by  the  work  of  the  devil  that  hatred 
is  stirred  up  between  married  people 
so  as  to  cause  the  crime  of  adultery. 
But  when  a  man  is  so  bound  in  the 
meshes  of  carnal  lust  and  desire  that  he 
can  be  made  to  desist  from  it  by  no 
shame,  words,  blows  or  action;  and 
when  a  man  often  puts  away  his  beauti¬ 
ful  wife  to  cleave  to  the  most  hideous 


MALEFICARUM 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  3 

of  women,  and  when  he  cannot  rest  in 
the  night,  but  is  so  demented  that  he 
must  go  by  devious  ways  to  his  mis¬ 
tress;  and  when  it  is  found  that  those 
of  noblest  birth,  Governors,  and  other 
j  rich  men,  are  the  most  miserably  in¬ 
volved  in  this  sin  (for  this  age  is  domi¬ 
nated  by  women,  and  was  foretold  by 
S.  Hildegard,*  as  Vincent  of  Beauvais 
records  in  the  Mirror  of  History ,  although 
he  said  it  would  not  endure  for  as  long 
as  it  already  has) ;  and  when  the  world 
is  now  full  of  adultery,  especially 
among  the  most  highly  born ;  when  all 
this  is  considered,  I  say,  of  what  use  is 
it  to  speak  of  remedies  to  those  who 
desire  no  remedy?  Nevertheless,  for 
the  satisfaction  of  the  pious  reader,  we 
will  set  down  briefly  some  of  the 
remedies  for  Philocaption  when  it  is  not 
due  to  witchcraft. 

Avicenna  mentions  seven  remedies 
which  may  be  used  when  a  man  is 
made  physically  ill  by  this  sort  of  love ; 
but  they  are  hardly  relevant  to  our 
inquiry  except  in  so  far  as  they  may  be 
of  service  to  the  sickness  of  the  soul. 
For  he  says,  in  Book  III,  that  the  root 
of  the  sickness  may  be  discovered  by 
feeling  the  pulse  and  uttering  the  name 
of  the  object  of  the  patient’s  love ;  and 
then,  if  the  law  permits,  he  may  be 
married  to  her,  and  so  be  cured  by 
yielding  to  nature.  Or  certain  medi- 


*  “S.  Hildegard .”  Born  at  Bockelheim  on  the 
Kobe,  1098 ;  died  on  the  Rupertsberg  near 
Bingen ,  1179.  This  great  Benedictine  seeress 
and  prophetess  has  been  called  the  Sibyl  of  the 
Rhine.  From  her  earliest  years  she  was  favoured 
with  visions ,  and  when  she  was  aged  about  forty 
she  received  a  Divine  command  to  publish  to  the 
world  what  she  had  seen  and  heard.  After  much 
hesitation  owing  to  her  humility  she  obeyed ,  and 
™  a 41  she  commenced  her  profound  treatise 
“ Scivias ”  (“scire  uias  Domini”),  which  occupied 
her  for  ten  years.  It  is  ecstatic  and  prophetic 
throughout ,  and  demands  profoundest  study. 
Herwegen,  “Kir chi.  Handlexikon ”  (1908), 

remarks  that  in  order  fully  to  appreciate  this 
marvellous  writer  a  new  and  critical  edition  of  her 
writings  must  be  prepared ,  a  task  entailing 
immense  labour  and  research.  No  formal 
canonization  of  S.  Hildegard  has  taken  place , 
but  many  miracles  were  wrought  at  her  inter¬ 
cession,  and  her  name  is  in  the  Roman  Martyr- 
ology.  The  feast  is  celebrated  on  17  September 
in  the  dioceses  oj  Speyer ,  Mainz,  Trier  and 
Limburg,  and  by  the  Solesmes  monks  on  18 
September  with  a  proper  Office.  The  Relics  of 
the  Saint  are  at  Eibingen,  of  which  town  she  is 
patron.  The  convent  cf  S.  Hildegard  there  was 
formally  constituted  on  17  September ,  1904. 


171 

cines  may  be  applied,  concerning  which 
he  gives  instructions.  Or  the  sick  man 
may  be  turned  from  his  love  by  lawful 
remedies  which  will  cause  him  to 
direct  his  love  to  a  more  worthy  object. 

Or  he  may  avoid  her  presence,  and  so 
distract  his  mind  from  her.  Or,  if  he  is  w 
open  to  correction,  he  may  be  admon¬ 
ished  and  expostulated  with,  to  the 
effect  that  such  love  is  the  greatest 
misery.  Or  he  may  be  directed  to  some¬ 
one  who,  as  far  as  he  may  with  God’s 
truth,  will  vilify  the  body  and  disposi¬ 
tion  of  his  love,  and  so  blacken  her 
character  that  she  may  appear  to  him 
altogether  base  and  deformed.  Or, 
finally,  he  is  to  be  set  to  arduous  duties 
which  may  distract  his  thoughts. 

Indeed,  just  as  the  animal  nature  of 
a  man  may  be  cured  by  such  remedies, 
so  may  they  all  be  of  use  in  reforming 
his  inner  spirit.  Let  a  man  obey  the 
law  of  his  intellect  rather  than  that  of 
nature,  let  him  turn  his  love  to  safe 
pleasures,  let  him  remember  how 
momentary  is  the  fruition  of  lust  and 
how  eternal  the  punishment,  let  him 
seek  his  pleasure  in  that  life  where  joys 
begin  never  to  end,  and  let  him  con¬ 
sider  that  if  he  cleaves  to  his  earthly 
love,  that  will  be  his  sole  reward,  but 
he  will  lose  the  bliss  of  Heaven,  and  be 
condemned  to  eternal  fire :  behold ! 
the  three  irrecoverable  losses  which 
proceed  from  inordinate  lust. 

With  regard  to  Philocaption  caused  by 
witchcraft,  the  remedies  detailed  in  the 
preceding  chapter  may  not  inconveni¬ 
ently  be  applied  here  also;  especially 
the  exorcisms  by  sacred  words  which 
the  bewitched  person  can  himself  use. 

Let  him  daily  invoke  the  Guardian 
Angel  deputed  to  him  by  God,  let  him 
use  confession  and  frequent  the  shrines 
of  the  Saints,  especially  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  without  doubt  he  will  be 
delivered. 

But  how  abject  are  those  strong  men 
who,  discarding  their  natural  gifts  and 
the  armour  of  virtue,  cease  to  defend 
themselves ;  whereas  the  girls  them¬ 
selves  in  their  invincible  frailty  use 
those  very  rejected  weapons  to  repel 
this  kind  of  witchcraft.  We  give  one 
out  of  many  examples  in  their  praise. 

There  was  in  a  country  village  near 
Lindau  in  the  diocese  of  Constance 
a  grown  maid  fair  to  see  and  of  even 
more  elegant  behaviour,  at  sight  of 
whom  a  certain  man  of  loose  princi¬ 
ples,  a  cleric  in  sooth,  but  not  a  priest, 


172 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Gh.  3 


was  smitten  with  violent  pangs  of  love. 
And  being  unable  to  conceal  the  wound 
in  his  heart  any  longer,  he  went  to  the 
place  where  the  girl  was  working,  and 
with  fair  words  showed  that  he  was  in 
the  net  of  the  devil,  beginning  by  ven¬ 
turing  in  words  only  to  persuade  the 
girl  to  grant  him  her  love.  She,  per¬ 
ceiving  by  Divine  instinct  his  meaning, 
and  being  chaste  in  mind  and  body, 
bravely  answered  him:  Master,  do  not 
come  to  my  house  with  such  words,  for 
modesty  itself  forbids.  To  this  he  re¬ 
plied:  Although  you  will  not  be  per¬ 
suaded  by  gentle  words  to  love  me,  yet 
I  promise  you  that  soon  you  will  be 
compelled  by  my  deeds  to  love  me. 
Now  that  man  was  a  suspected  en¬ 
chanter  and  wizard.  The  maiden  con¬ 
sidered  his  words  as  but  empty  air,  and 
until  then  felt  in  herself  no  spark  of 
carnal  love  for  him;  but  after  a  short 
time  she  began  to  have  amorous 
thoughts.  Perceiving  this,  and  being 
inspired  by  God,  she  sought  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  the  Mother  of  Mercy,  and 
devoutly  implored  Her  to  intercede 
with  Her  Son  to  help  her.  Anxious, 
moreover,  to  enjoy  the  society  of  pious 
folk,  she  went  on  a  pilgrimage  to  a 
hermitage,*  where  there  was  a  church 


*  “ Hermitage .”  The  famous  shrine  of  Our 
Lady  of  the  Hermits ,  at  the  Benedictine  Abbey  of 
Einsiedeln ,  in  the  Canton  of  Schwyz ,  Switzer - 
land.  S.  Meinrad ,  who  was  assassinated  by 
bandits  in  861,  had  embraced  the  solitary  life  and 
established  his  hermitage  on  the  slopes  of  Mount 
Etzel,  when  he  built  a  small  oratory  for  the 
wonder-working  statue  of  Our  Lady  which  had 
been  given  him  by  Abbess  Hildegard  of  Zurich. 
Several  anchorites  succeeded  him ,  and  one  of 
these,  by  name  Eberhard,  erected  a  monastery  and 
church  there.  This  fane  was  miraculously  con¬ 
secrated  in  948  by  Christ  Himself,  assisted  by  the 
Four  Evangelists,  S.  Peter  and  S.  Gregory  the 
Great.  Even  the  rationalistic  Father  Thurston, 
S.J.,  will  be  unable  to  impugn  this  holy  marvel, 
as  it  was  investigated  and  confirmed  by  Pope  Leo 
VIII,  and  subsequently  ratified  by  many  a 
Pontiff,  the  last  being  Pius  VI,  who  in  1793  con¬ 
firmed  the  acts  of  all  his  predecessors.  The 
miraculous  statue  is  enthroned  in  a  little  chapel 
which  stands  within  the  great  abbey  church  in 
much  the  same  way  as  the  Holy  House  at  Loreto, 
encased  in  marbles  and  elaborate  wood-work,  the 
goal  of  ten  thousand  pilgrimages.  The  two  chief 
days  are  the  fourteenth  of  September  and  the 
thirteenth  of  October,  the  first  being  the  anni¬ 
versary  of  the  Divine  consecration  of  Eberhard’ s 
basilica,  the  second  that  of  the  translation  of  the 
Relics  of  S.  Meinrad  from  Reichenau  to  Ein¬ 
siedeln  in  1039. 


miraculously  consecrated  in  that  dio¬ 
cese  to  the  Mother  of  God.  There  she 
confessed  her  sins,  so  that  no  evil  spirit 
could  enter  her,  and  after  her  prayers 
to  the  Mother  of  Pity  all  the  devil’s 
machinations  against  her  ceased,  so 
that  these  evil  crafts  thenceforth  never 
afflicted  her. 

None  the  less  there  are  still  some 
strong  men  cruelly  enticed  by  witches 
to  this  sort  of  love,  so  that  it  would 
seem  that  they  could  never  restrain 
themselves  from  their  inordinate  lust 
for  them,  yet  these  often  most  manfully 
resist  the  temptation  of  lewd  and  filthy 
enticements,  and  by  the  aforesaid  de¬ 
fences  overcome  all  the  wiles  of  the 
devil. 

A  rich  young  man  in  the  town  of 
Innsbruck  provides  us  with  a  notable 
pattern  of  this  sort  of  struggle.  He  was 
so  importuned  by  witches  that  it  is 
hardly  possible  for  pen  to  describe  his 
strivings,  but  he  always  kept  a  brave 
heart,  and  escaped  by  means  of  the 
remedies  we  have  mentioned.  There¬ 
fore  it  may  justly  be  concluded  that 
these  remedies  are  infallible  against 
this  disease,  and  that  they  who  use 
such  weapons  will  most  surely  be 
delivered. 

And  it  must  be  understood  that  what 
we  have  said  concerning  inordinate 
love  applies  also  to  inordinate  hatred, 
since  the  same  discipline  is  of  benefit 
for  the  two  opposite  extremes.  But 
though  the  degree  of  witchcraft  is  equal 
in  each,  yet  there  is  this  difference  in 
the  case  of  hatred ;  the  person  who  is 
hated  must  seek  another  remedy.  For 
the  man  who  hates  his  wife  and  puts 
her  out  of  his  heart  will  not  easily,  if 
he  is  an  adulterer,  be  turned  back 
again  to  his  wife,  even  though  he  go 
on  many  a  pilgrimage. 

Now  it  has  been  learned  from 
witches  that  they  cause  this  spell  of 
hatred  by  means  of  serpents ;  for  the 
serpent  was  the  first  instrument  of  the 
devil,  and  by  reason  of  its  curse  inherits 
a  hatred  of  women ;  therefore  they 
cause  such  spells  by  placing  the  skin  or 
head  of  a  serpent  under  the  threshold 
of  a  room  or  house.  For  this  reason  all 
the  nooks  and  corners  of  the  house 
where  such  a  woman  lives  are  to  be 
closely  examined  and  reconstructed  as 
far  as  possible ;  or  else  she  must  be 
lodged  in  the  houses  of  others: 

And  when  it  is  said  that  bewitched 
men  can  exorcise  themselves,  it  is  to  be 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  4 


MALEFICARUM 


173 


understood  that  they  can  wear  the 
sacred  words  or  benedictions  or  incan¬ 
tations  round  their  necks,  if  they  are 
unable  to  read  or  pronounce  the  bene¬ 
dictions;  but  it  will  be  shown  later  in 
what  way  this  should  be  done. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  IV 

Remedies  prescribed  for  those  who  by 
Prestidigitatory  Art  have  lost  their 
Virile  Members  or  have  seemingly  been 
Transformed  into  the  Shapes  of  Beasts. 

IN  what  has  already  been  written  it 
has  clearly  enough  been  shown  the 
remedies  which  are  available  for  the 
relief  of  those  who  are  deluded  by  a 
glamour,  and  think  that  they  have  lost 
their  virile  member,  or  have  been 
metamorphosed  into  animals.  For  since 
such  men  are  entirely  destitute  of 
Divine  grace,  according  to  the  essen¬ 
tial  condition  of  those  who  are  so  be¬ 
witched,  it  is  not  possible  to  apply  a 
healing  salve  while  the  weapon  still 
remains  in  the  wound.  Therefore  be¬ 
fore  all  things  they  must  be  reconciled 
to  God  by  a  good  confession.  Again, 
as  was  shown  in  the  seventh  chapter  of 
the  First  Question  of  the  Second  Part, 
such  members  are  never  actually  taken 
away  from  the  body,  bujt  are  only 
hidden  by  a  glamour  from  the  senses  of 
sight  and  touch.  It  is  clear,  too,  that 
those  who  live  in  grace  are  not  so 
easily  deluded  in  this  way,  either 
actively  or  passively,  in  such  a  manner, 
that  is,  that  they  seem  to  lose  their 
members,  or  that  those  of  others  should 
appear  to  them  to  be  missing.  There¬ 
fore  the  remedy  as  well  as  the  disease  is 
explained  in  that  chapter,  namely,  that 
they  should  as  far  as  possible  come  to 
an  amicable  agreement  with  the  witch 
herself. 

As  to  those  who  think  that  they  have 
been  changed  into  beasts,  it  must  be 
known  that  this  kind  of  witchcraft  is 
more  practised  in  Eastern  countries 
than  in  the  West;  that  is  to  say,  in  the 
East  witches  more  often  bewitch  other 
people  in  this  way,  but  it  appears  that 
the  witches  so  transform  themselves 
more  frequently  in  our  part  of  the 
world ;  namely,  when  they  change 
themselves,  in  full  sight,  into  the  shapes 
of  animals,  as  was  told  in  the  eighth 
chapter.  Therefore  in  their  case  the 


remedies  to  be  used  are  those  set  out  in 
the  Third  Part  of  this  work,  where  we 
deal  with  the  extermination  of  witches 
by  the  secular  arm  of  the  law. 

But  in  the  East  the  following  remedy 
is  used  for  such  delusions.  For  we  have 
learned  much  of  this  matter  from  the 
Knights  of  the  Order  of  S.  John  of 
Jerusalem  in  Rhodes;  and  especially 
this  case  which  happened  in  the  city  of 
Salamis  in  the  kingdom  of  Cyprus.  For 
that  is  a  seaport,  and  once  when  a  vessel 
was  being  laden  with  merchandise 
suitable  for  a  ship  which  is  sailing  into 
foreign  parts,  and  all  her  company  were 
providing  themselves  with  victuals,  one 
of  them,  a  strong  young  man,  went  to 
the  house  of  a  woman  standing  outside 
the  city  on  the  seashore,  and  asked  her 
if  she  had  any  eggs  to  sell.  The  woman, 
seeing  that  he  was  a  strong  young  man, 
and  a  merchant  far  away  from  his  own 
country,  thought  that  on  that  account 
the  people  of  the  city  would  feel  less 
suspicion  if  he  were  to  be  lost,  and  said 
to  him:  “Wait  a  little,  and  I  will  get 
you  all  that  you  want.”  And  when  she 
went  in  and  shut  the  door  and  kept  him 
waiting,  the  young  man  outside  began 
to  call  out  to  her  to  hurry,  lest  he  should 
miss  the  ship.  Then  the  woman  brought 
some  eggs  and  gave  them  to  the  young 
man,  and  told  him  to  hurry  back  to  the 
ship  in  case  he  should  miss  it.  So  he 
hastened  back  to  the  ship,  which  was 
anchored  by  the  shore,  and  before  going 
on  board,  since  the  full  company  of  his 
companions  was  not  yet  returned,  he 
decided  to  eat  the  eggs  there  and  re¬ 
fresh  himself.  And  behold !  an  hour 
later  he  was  made  dumb  as  if  he  had  no 
power  of  speech ;  and,  as  he  afterwards 
said,  he  wondered  what  could  have 
happened  to  him,  but  was  unable  to 
find  out.  Yet  when  he  wished  to  go  on 
board,  he  was  driven  off  with  sticks  by 
those  who  yet  remained  ashore,  and 
who  all  cried  out:  “Look  what  this  ass 
is  doing!  Curse  the  beast,  you  are  not 
coming  on  board.”  The  young  man 
being  thus  driven  away,  and  under¬ 
standing  from  their  words  that  they 
thought  he  was  an  ass,  reflected  and 
began  to  suspect  that  he  had  been  be¬ 
witched  by  the  woman,  especially  since 
he  could  utter  no  word,  although  he 
understood  all  that  was  said.  And 
when,  on  again  trying  to  board  the 
ship,  he  was  driven  off  with  heavier 
blows,  he  was  in  bitterness  of  heart 
compelled  to  remain  and  watch  the 


174 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Gh.  4 


ship  sail  away.  And  so,  as  he  ran  here 
and  there,  since  everybody  thought  he 
was  an  ass,  he  was  necessarily  treated  as 
such.  At  last,  -under  compulsion,  he 
went  back  to  the  woman’s  house,  and 
to  keep  himself  alive  served  her  at  her 
leasure  for  three  years,  doing  no  work 
ut  to  bring  to  the  house  such  neces¬ 
sities  as  wood  and  corn,  and  to  carry 
away  what  had  to  be  carried  away  like 
a  beast  of  burden :  the  only  consolation 
that  was  left  to  him  being  that  although 
everyone  else  took  him  for  an  ass,  the 
witches  themselves,  severally  and  in 
company,  who  frequented  the  house, 
recognized  him  as  a  man,  and  he  could 
talk  and  behave  with  them  as  a  man 
should. 

Now  if  it  is  asked  how  burdens  were 
placed  upon  him  as  if  he  were  a  beast, 
we  must  say  that  this  case  is  analogous 
to  that  of  which  S.  Augustine  speaks 
in  his  De  Ciuitate  Dei ,  Book  XVIII, 
chapter  17,  where  he  tells  of  the  tavern 
women  who  changed  their  guests  into 
beasts  of  burden;  and  to  that  of  the 
father  of  Praestantius,  who  thought  he 
was  a  pack-horse  and  carried  corn  with 
other  animals.  For  the  delusion  caused 
by  this  glamour  was  threefold. 

First  in  its  effect  on  the  men  who  saw 
the  young  man  not  as  a  man  but  as  an 
ass;  and  it  is  shown  above  in  Chapter 
VIII  how  devils  can  easily  cause  this. 
Secondly,  those  burdens  were  no  illu¬ 
sion;  but  when  they  were  beyond  the 
strength  of  the  young  man,  the  devil 
invisibly  carried  them.  Thirdly,  that 
when  he  was  consorting  with  others,  the 
young  man  himself  considered  in  his 
imagination  and  perceptive  faculties  at 
least,  which  are  faculties  belonging  to 
the  bodily  organs,  that  he  was  an  ass; 
but  not  in  his  reason:  for  he  was  not 
so  bound  but  that  he  knew  himself  to 
be  a  man,  although  he  was  magically 
deluded  into  imagining  himself  a  beast. 
Nabuchodonosor  provides  an  example 
of  the  same  delusion. 

After  three  years  had  passed  in  this 
way,  in  the  fourth  year  it  happened 
that  the  young  man  went  one  morning 
into  the  city,  with  the  woman  following 
a  long  way  behind ;  and  he  passed  by  a 
church  where  Holy  Mass  was  being  cele¬ 
brated,  and  heard  the  sacring-bell  ring 
at  the  elevation  of  the  Host  (for  in  that 
kingdom  the  Mass  is  celebrated  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  Latin,  and  not  according  to 
the  Greek  rite) .  And  he  turned  towards 
the  church,  and,  not  daring  to  enter  for 


fear  of  being  driven  off  with  blows, 
knelt  down  outside  by  bending  the 
knees  of  his  hind  legs,  and  lifted  his 
forelegs,  that  is,  his  hands,  joined  to¬ 
gether  over  his  ass’s  head,  as  it  was 
thought  to  be,  and  looked  upon  the 
elevation  of  the  Sacrament.*  And 
when  some  Genoese  merchants  saw  this 
prodigy,  they  followed  the  ass  in 
astonishment,  discussing  this  marvel 
among  themselves ;  and  behold !  the 
witch  came  and  belaboured  the  ass 
with  her  stick.  And  because,  as  we 
have  said,  this  sort  of  witchcraft  is 
better  known  in  those  parts,  at  the  in¬ 
stance  of  the  merchants  the  ass  and  the 
witch  were  taken  before  the  judge; 
where,  being  questioned  and  tortured, 
she  confessed  her  crime  and  promised 
to  restore  the  young  man  to  his  true 
shape  if  she  might  be  allowed  to  return 
to  her  house.  So  she  was  dismissed  and 
went  back  to  her  house,  where  the 
young  man  was  restored  to  his  former 
shape;  and  being  again  arrested,  she 

*  “ Sacrament .”  One  of  the  most  famous  of 
the  miracles  of  S.  Antony  of  Padua,  wrought  for 
the  conversion  of  heretics,  was  that  of  a  mule, 
belonging  to  one  Bovidilla,  a  blasphemer  of  the 
Sacrament.  The  animal ,  although  it  had  been , 
as  agreed ,  kept  fasting  for  three  days,  refused  to 
turn  to  a  sieve  of  oats  held  out  by  its  master,  but 
fell  down  upon  its  knees  and  adored  the  Host 
which  the  Saint  was  carrying  in  the  ostensory. 
Some  narratives  of  the  fourteenth  century  say  this 
happened  at  Toulouse,  and  some  name  Bruges, 
but  the  actual  place  was  Rimini.  In  the  basilica 
II  Santo,  at  Padua ,  this  miracle  is  depicted  more 
than  once.  There  is  a  bronze  bas-relief  by 
Donatello  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Sacrament,  and 
a  fresco  by  Campagnola.  The  same  subject  was 
painted  by  Van  Dyck  for  the  Recollects  at 
Malines. 

Animals  have  been  known  to  distinguish  Our 
Lord’s  Body  in  the  Host,  a  fact  which,  when  one 
considers  their  sense  and  intelligence,  is  not  at 
all  surprising. 

At  the  trial  of  the  Satanist  Louis  Gaufridi  it 
was  proved  that  upon  one  occasion  during  their 
accursed  rites  a  dog  was  led  in  to  devour  the 
consecrated  Species,  but  he  stretched  out  his  paws  in 
adoration  before  the  Body  of  Christ  and  bowed  down 
his  head,  nor  could  kicks  nor  blows  compel  him  to 
stir.  Several  of  the  devotees  broke  down  into  tears 
and  began  loudly  to  bewail  their  sins,  after  which 
it  was  decreed  in  future  that  the  Host  should  he 
defiled,  but  that  no  animals  must  be  admitted. 
See  my  “ Geography  of  Witchcraft,”  pp.  410- 
411. 

1 S.  Optatus  tells  us  that  certain  Donatisls  once 
threw  the  Host  to  some  hungry  dogs,  who 
suddenly  turned  on  the  heretics  and  tore  them  to 
pieces. 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Gh.  5 


MALEFICARUM 


x75 


paid  the  debt  which  her  crimes  merited. 
And  the  young  man  returned  joyfully 
to  his  own  country. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  V 

Prescribed  Remedies  for  those  who  are 
Obsessed  owing  to  some  Spell. 

WE  have  shown  in  Chapter  X  of  the 
preceding  Question  that  sometimes 
devils,  through  witchcraft,  substantially 
inhabit  certain  men,  and  why  they  do 
this:  namely,  that  it  may  be  for  some 
grave  crime  of  the  man  himself,  and 
for  his  own  ultimate  benefit;  or  some¬ 
times  for  the  slight  fault  of  another 
man ;  sometimes  for  a  man’s  own  venial 
sin;  and  sometimes  for  another  man’s 
grave  sin.  For  any  of  these  reasons  a 
man  may  in  varying  degrees  be  pos¬ 
sessed  by  a  devil.  Nider  in  his  For - 
micarius  states  that  there  is  no  cause 
for  wonder  if  devils,  at  the  instance  of 
witches  and  with  God’s  permission, 
substantially  take  possession  of  men. 

It  is  clear  also  from  the  details  given 
in  that  chapter  what  are  the  remedies 
by  which  such  men  can  be  liberated; 
namely,  by  the  exorcisms  of  the 
Church ;  and  by  true  contrition  and 
confession,  when  a  man  is  possessed  for 
some  mortal  sin.  An  example  is  the 
manner  in  which  that  Bohemian  priest 
was  set  free.  But  there  are  three  other 
remedies  besides,  which  are  of  virtue; 
namely,  the  Holy  Communion  of  the 
Eucharist,  the  visitation  of  shrines  and 
the  prayers  of  holy  men,  and  by  lifting 
the  sentence  of  excommunication.  Of 
these  we  shall  speak,  although  they  are 
plainly  set  out  in  the  discourses  of  the 
Doctors,  since  all  have  not  easy  access 
to  the  necessary  treatises. 

Cassian,  in  his  Collation  of  the  Abbots , 
speaks  in  these  words  of  the  Eucharist : 
We  do  not  remember  that  our  elders 
ever  forbade  the  administration  of  the 
Holy  Communion  to  those  possessed  by 
evil  spirits;  it  should  even  be  given  to 
them  every  day  if  possible.*  For  it 

*  “ Every  day.”  Since  the  Sacrament  is 
“ medicina  animae In  “ En  Route,”  Chap.  V, 
the  AbbS  Gevresin  says:  “ Jecomprends  tres  bien 
le  systeme  du  pere  Milleriot  qui  forfait  a  com - 
munier  des  gens  qu’il  apprehendait  de  voir 
retomber  dans  leur  pkhis,  apres.  Pour  toute 
pinitence,  il  les  obligeait  d  recommunier  encore  et 


must  be  believed  that  It  is  of  great 
virtue  in  the  purgation  and  protection 
of  both  soul  and  body ;  and  that  when 
a  man  receives  It,  the  evil  spirit  which 
afflicts  his  members  or  lurks  hidden  in 
them  is  driven  away  as  if  it  were 
burned  with  fire.  And  lately  we  saw 
the  Abbot  Andronicus  healed  in  this 
way ;  and  the  devil  will  rage  with  mad 
fury  when  he  feels  himself  shut  out  by 
the  heavenly  medicine,  and  he  will  try 
the  harder  and  the  oftener  to  inflict  his 
tortures,  as  he  feels  himself  driven 
farther  off  by  this  spiritual  remedy.  So 
says  S.  John  Cassian. 

And  again  he  adds :  Two  things  must 
be  steadfastly  believed.  First,  that  with¬ 
out  the  permission  of  God  no  one  is 
altogether  possessed  *  by  these  spirits. 
Second,  that  everything  which  God 
permits  to  happen  to  us,  whether  it 
seem  to  be  sorrow  or  gladness,  is  sent 
for  our  good  as  from  a  pitying  Father 
and  a  merciful  Physician.  For  the  devils 
are,  as  it  were,  schoolmasters  of  hu¬ 
mility,  so  that  they  who  descend  from 
this  world  may  either  be  purged  for  the 
eternal  life  or  be  sentenced  to  the  pain 
of  their  punishment ;  and  such,  accord¬ 
ing  to  S.  Paul,  are  in  the  present  life 
delivered  unto  Satan  for  the  destruction 
of  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit  may  be 
saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

But  here  there  arises  a  doubt.  For 
S.  Paul  says :  Let  a  man  examine  him¬ 
self,  and  so  eat  of  that  Bread :  then  how 
can  a  man  who  is  possessed  com¬ 
municate,  since  he  has  not  the  use  of 
his  reason?  S.  Thomas  answers  this  in 
his  Third  Part,  Question  80,  saying  that 
there  are  distinct  degrees  in  madness. 
For  to  say  that  a  man  has  not  the  use  of 
his  reason  may  mean  two  things.  In 
one  case  he  has  some  feeble  power  of 
reason;  as  a  man  is  said  to  be  blind 
when  he  can  nevertheless  see  imper¬ 
fectly.  And  since  such  men  can  to  some 
extent  join  in  the  devotion  of  this 
Sacrament,  it  is  not  to  be  denied  to 
them. 

But  others  are  said  to  be  mad  because 
they  have  been  so  from  birth ;  and  such 
may  not  partake  of  the  Sacrament, 


il  finissait  par  les  Spurer  avec  les  Saintes 
Especes  prises  a  de  hautes  doses.  C'est  une 
doctrine  tout  d  la  fois  realiste  et  surelevee.”  Pere 
Milleriot,  S.J. ,  was  largely  concerned  in  the 
conversion  (i8yg-8o)  of  Paul-Maximilien- Emile 
Littri,  who  died  at  Paris ,  2  June,  1881. 


176 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  5 


since  they  are  in  no  way  able  to  engage 
in  devout  preparation  for  it. 

Or  perhaps  they  have  not  always  been 
without  the  use  of  their  reason;  and 
then,  if  when  they  were  sane  they 
appeared  to  appreciate  the  devotion 
due  to  the  Sacrament,  It  should  be 
administered  to  them  when  they  are 
at  the  point  of  death,  unless  it  is 
feared  that  they  may  vomit  or  spew 
It  out. 

The  following  decision  is  recorded  by 
the  Council  of  Carthage  (26,  q.  6).* 
When  a  sick  man  wishes  to  confess,  and 
if  on  the  arrival  of  the  priest  he  is  ren¬ 
dered  dumb  by  his  infirmity,  or  falls 
into  a  frenzy,  those  who  have  heard  him 
speak  must  give  their  testimony.  And 
if  he  is  thought  to  be  at  the  point  of 
death,  let  him  be  reconciled  with  God 
by  the  laying  on  of  hands  and  the 
lacing  of  the  Sacrament  in  his  mouth. 

.  Thomas  also  says  that  the  same  pro¬ 
cedure  may  be  used  with  baptized 
people  who  are  bodily  tormented  by 
unclean  spirits,  and  with  other  mentally 
distracted  persons.  And  he  adds,  in 
Book  IV,  dist.  9,  that  the  Communion 
must  not  be  denied  to  demoniacs  unless 
it  is  certain  that  they  are  being  tortured 
by  the  devil  for  some  crime.  To  this 
Peter  a  Palude  adds :  In  this  case  they 
are  to  be  considered  as  persons  to  be 
excommunicated  and  delivered  up  to 
Satan.  % 

From  this  it  is  clear  that,  even  if  a 
man  be  possessed  by  a  devil  for  his  own 
crimes,  yet  if  he  has  lucid  intervals  and, 
while  he  has  the  use  of  his  reason,  is 
contrite  and  confesses  his  sins,  since  he 
is  absolved  in  the  sight  of  God,  he  must 
in  no  way  be  deprived  of  the  Com¬ 
munion  of  the  Divine  Sacrament  of  the 
Eucharist. 

How  those  who  are  possessed  may  be 
delivered  by  the  intercessions  and 
prayers  of  the  Saints  is  found  in  the 
Legends  of  the  Saints.  For  by  the 
merits  of  Saints,  Martyrs,  Confessors 
and  Virgins  the  unclean  spirits  are  sub¬ 
dued  by  their  prayers  in  the  land  where 

*  “ Carthage The  earliest  Council  of  Car¬ 
thage  of  which  we  know  was  held  about  a.d.  ig8 , 
when  seventy  bishops ,  presided  over  by  the  Bishop 
of  Carthage ,  Agrippinus ,  were  present.  After 
this  date  more  than  twenty  Councils  were  held  at 
Carthage,  of  which  the  most  important  were  those 
under  S.  Cyprian ,  relative  to  the  “lapsi,”  Nova- 
tianism,  and  the  re-baptism  of  heretics ,  and  the 
synods  of  412,  416  and  418  which  condemned  the 
doctrines  of  Pelagius. 


they  live,  just  as  the  Saints  in  their 
earthly  journey  subdued  them. 

Likewise  we  read  that  the  devout 
prayers  of  wayfarers  have  often  ob¬ 
tained  the  deliverance  of  those  pos¬ 
sessed.  And  Cassian  urges  them  to  pray 
for  them,  saying :  If  we  hold  the  opinion 
or  rather  faith  of  which  I  have  written 
above,  that  everything  is  sent  by  the 
Lord  for  the  good  of  our  souls  and  the 
betterment  of  the  universe,  we  shall  in 
no  way  despise  those  who  are  possessed  ; 
but  we  shall  incessantly  pray  for  them 
as  for  our  own  selves,  and  pity  them 
with  our  whole  heart. 

As  for  the  last  method,  that  of  re¬ 
leasing  the  sufferer  from  excommuni¬ 
cation,  it  must  be  known  that  this  is 
rare,  and  only  lawfully  practised  by 
such  as  have  authority  and  are  in¬ 
formed  by  revelation  that  the  man  has 
become  possessed  on  account  of  the  ex- 
communication  of  the  Church :  such 
was  the  case  of  the  Corinthian  forni¬ 
cator  (I.  Corinthians  v)  who  was  ex¬ 
communicated  by  S.  Paul  and  the 
Church,  and  delivered  unto  Satan  for 
the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  his 
spirit  might  be  saved  in  the  day  of  our 
Lord  JESUS  Christ ;  that  is,  as  the  gloss 
says,  either  for  the  illumination  of  grace 
by  contrition  or  for  judgement. 

And  he  delivered  to  Satan  false 
teachers  who  had  lost  the  faith,  such  as 
Hymenaeus  and  Alexander,  that  they 
might  learn  not  to  blaspheme  (I. 
Timothy  i).  For  so  great  was  the  power 
and  the  grace  of  S.  Paul,  says  the  gloss, 
that  by  the  mere  words  of  his  mouth  he 
could  deliver  to  Satan  those  who  fell 
away  from  the  faith. 

S.  Thomas  (IV.  18)  teaches  concern¬ 
ing  the  three  effects  of  excommunica¬ 
tion  as  follows.  If  a  man,  he  says,  is 
deprived  of  the  prayers  of  the  Church, 
he  suffers  a  threefold  loss  corresponding 
with  the  benefits  which  accrue  to  one 
who  is  in  communion  with  the  Church. 
For  those  who  are  excommunicated  are 
bereft  of  the  source  from  which  flows  an 
increase  of  grace  to  those  who  have  it, 
and  a  means  to  obtain  grace  for  those 
who  have  it  not ;  and,  being  deprived  of 
grace,  they  lose  also  the  power  of  pre¬ 
serving  their  uprightness;  although  it 
must  not  be  thought  that  they  are  alto¬ 
gether  shut  out  from  God’s  providence, 
but  only  from  that  special  providence 
which  watches  over  the  sons  of  the 
Church;  and  they  lose  also  a  strong 
source  of  protection  against  the  Enemy, 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Gh.  5 


MALEFICARUM 


177 


for  greater  power  is  granted  to  the  devil 
to  injure  such  men,  both  bodily  and 
spiritually. 

For  in  the  primitive  Church,  when 
men  had  to  be  drawn  into  the  faith  by 
signs,  just  as  the  Holy  Spirit  was  made 
manifest  by  a  visible  sign,  so  also  a 
bodily  affliction  by  the  devil  was  the 
visible  sign  of  a  man  who  was  excom¬ 
municated.  And  it  is  not  unfitting  that 
a  man  whose  case  is  not  quite  desperate 
should  be  delivered  to  Satan;  for  he  is 
not  given  to  the  devil  as  one  to  be 
damned,  but  to  be  corrected,  since  it  is 
in  the  power  of  the  Church,  when  she 
pleases,  to  deliver  him  again  from  the 
hands  of  the  devil.  So  says  S.  Thomas. 
Therefore  the  lifting  of  the  ban  of  ex- 
communication,  when  prudently  used 
by  a  discreet  exorcist,  is  a  fitting  remedy 
for  those  who  are  possessed. 

But  Nider  adds  that  the  exorcist  must 
particularly  beware  of  making  too  pre¬ 
sumptive  a  use  of  his  powers,  or  of 
mingling  any  ribaldry  or  jesting  with 
the  serious  work  of  God,  or  adding  to  it 
anything  that  smacks  of  superstition  or 
witchcraft ;  for  otherwise  he  will  hardly 
escape  punishment,  as  he  shows  by  an 
example. 

For  Blessed  Gregory,  in  his  First 
Dialogue,  tells  of  a  certain  woman  who, 
against  her  conscience,  yielded  to  her 
husband’s  persuasions  to  take  part  in 
the  ceremonies  at  the  vigil  of  the  dedi¬ 
cation  of  the  Church  of  S.  Sebastian. 
And  because  she  joined  in  the  Church’s 
procession  against  her  conscience,  she 
became  possessed  and  raged  publicly. 
When  the  priest  of  that  church  saw  this, 
he  took  the  cloth  from  the  altar  and 
covered  her  with  it ;  and  the  devil  sud¬ 
denly  entered  into  that  priest.  And 
because  he  had  presumed  beyond  his 
strength,  he  was  constrained  by  his  tor¬ 
ments  to  reveal  who  he  was.  So  says 
S.  Gregory. 

And  to  show  that  no  spirit  of 
ribaldry  *  must  be  allowed  to  enter  into 
the  holy  office  of  exorcism,  Nider  tells 

*  “Ribaldry.”  A  rubric  of  the  “ De  exorciz¬ 
andis  Obsessis  a  Daemonio”  prescribes: 
“ Necessarie  uero  interrogationes  sunt ,  ut  de 
numero  et  nomine  spirituum  obsidentium ,  de 
tempore  quo  ingressi  sunt ,  de  causa ,  et  aliis 
huiusmodi.  Ceteras  autem  daemoniis  nugas , 
risus,  et  ineptias  Exorcista  cohibeat,  aut  con¬ 
temnat,  et  circumstantes ,  qui  pauci  esse  debent, 
admoneat,  ne  haec  curent,  neque  ipsi  interrogent 
obsessum:  sed  potius  humiliter  et  enixe  Deum 
pro  eo  precentur” 


that  he  saw  in  a  monastery  at  Cologne 
a  brother  who  was  given  to  speaking 
jestingly,  but  was  a  very  famous  ex- 
peller  of  devils.  This  man  was  casting  a 
devil  out  of  a  man  possessed  in  the 
monastery,  and  the  devil  asked  him  to 
give  him  some  place  to  which  he  could 
go.  This  pleased  the  Brother,  and  he 
jokingly  said,  “Go  to  my  privy.”  So  the 
devil  went  out;  and  when  in  the  night 
the  Brother  wished  to  go  and  purge  his 
belly,  the  devil  attacked  him  so  savagely 
in  the  privy  that  he  with  difficulty 
escaped  with  his  life. 

But  especial  care  is  to  be  taken  that 
those  who  are  obsessed  through  witch¬ 
craft  should  not  be  induced  to  go  to 
witches  to  be  healed.  For  S.  Gregory 
goes  on  to  say  of  the  woman  we  have 
just  mentioned :  Her  kindred  and  those 
who  loved  her  in  the  flesh  took  her  to 
some  witches  to  be  healed,  by  whom  she 
was  taken  to  a  river  and  dipped  in  the 
water  with  many  incantations ;  and 
upon  this  she  was  violently  shaken,  and 
instead  of  one  devil  being  cast  out,  a 
legion  entered  into  her,  and  she  began 
to  cry  out  in  their  several  voices. 
Therefore  her  kindred  confessed  what 
they  had  done,  and  in  great  grief 
brought  her  to  the  holy  Bishop  For¬ 
tunatus,  f  who  by  daily  prayers  and 
fasting^  entirely  restored  her  to  health. 

But  since  it  has  been  said  that  exor¬ 
cists  must  beware  lest  they  make  use  of 
anything  savouring  of  superstition  or 
witchcraft,  some  exorcist  may  doubt 
whether  it  is  lawful  to  use  certain 
unconsecrated  herbs  and  stones.  In 
answer  we  say  that  it  is  so  much  the 
better  if  the  herbs  are  consecrated ;  but 
that  if  they  are  not,  then  it  is  not  super¬ 
stitious  to  use  a  certain  herb  called 
Demonifuge,  §  or  even  the  natural 
properties  of  stones.  But  he  must  not  » 
think  that  he  is  casting  out  devils  by  the 
power  of  these ;  for  then  he  would  fall 
into  the  error  of  believing  that  he  could 
use  other  herbs  and  incantations  in  the 
same  way;  and  this  is  the  error  of 
necromancers,  who  think  that  they  can 
perform  this  kind  of  work  through  the 

f  “ Fortunatus .”  Bishop  of  Naples,  who  was 
appointed  to  that  see  by  S.  Gregory  the  Great  in 
593  uPon  the  deposition  of  Demetrius. 

%“  Fasting”  “S.  Matthew”  xvii,  20:  Hoc 
autem  genus  non  eiicitur  nisi  per  orationem  et 
ieiunium. 

§  “ Demonifuge .”  See  Sinistrari,  “ De  Dae - 
monialitate,”  LX  VII I,  in  my  translation 
“Demoniality,”  pp.  52-53. 


178 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  5 


natural  and  unknown  virtues  of  such 
objects. 

Therefore  S.  Thomas  says,  Book  IV. 
dist.  7,  art.  the  last :  It  must  not  be  be¬ 
lieved  that  devils  are  subject  to  any 
corporeal  powers;  and  therefore  they 
are  not  to  oe  influenced  by  invocations 
or  any  acts  of  sorcery,  except  in  so  far 
as  they  have  entered  into  a  pact  with 
a  witch.  Of  this  Esaias  (xxviii)  speaks : 
We  have  made  a  covenant  with  death, 
and  with  hell  are  we  at  agreement.  And 
he  thus  explains  the  passage  in  Job  xli : 
Canst  thou  draw  out  Leviathan  with  an 
hook?  and  the  following  words.  For  he 
says:  If  one  rightly  considers  all  that 
has  been  said  before,  it  will  seem  that  it 
belongs  to  the  heretical  presumption  of 
necromancers  when  anyone  tries  to 
make  an  agreement  with  devils,  or  to 
subject  them  in  any  way  to  his  own  will. 

Having,  then,  shown  that  man  can¬ 
not  of  his  own  power  overcome  the 
devil,  he  concludes  by  saying:  Place 
your  hand  upon  him;  but  understand 
that,  if  you  have  any  power,  it  is  yet  by 
Divine  virtue  that  he  is  overcome.  And 
he  adds :  Remember  the  battle  which  I 
wage  against  him;  that  is  to  say,  the 
present  being  put  for  the  future,  I  shall 
fight  against  him  on  the  Cross,  where 
Leviathan  will  be  taken  with  an  hook, 
that  is,  by  the  divinity  hidden  under 
the  bait  of  humanity,  since  he  will  think 
our  Saviour  to  be  only  a  man.  And 
afterwards  it  says:  There  is  no  power 
on  earth  to  be  compared  with  him :  by 
which  it  is  meant  that  no  bodily  power 
can  equal  the  power  of  the  devil,  which 
is  a  purely  spiritual  power.  So  says  S. 
Thomas. 

But  a  man  possessed  by  a  devil  can 
indirectly  be  relieved  by  the  power  of 
music,  as  was  Saul  by  David’s  harp,  or 
of  a  herb,  or  of  any  other  bodily  matter 
in  which  there  lies  some  natural  virtue. 
Therefore  such  remedies  may  be  used, 
as  can  be  argued  both  from  authority 
and  by  reason.  For  S.  Thomas,  XXVI. 
7,  says  that  stones  and  herbs  may  be 
used  for  the  relief  of  a  man  possessed  by 
a  devil.  And  there  are  the  words  of 
S.  Jerome. 

And  as  for  the  passage  in  Tobias ,  where 
the  Angel  says :  Touching  the  heart  and 
the  liver  (which  you  took  from  the 
fish),  if  a  devil  or  an  evil  spirit  trouble 
any,  we  must  make  a  smoke  thereof 
before  the  man  or  the  woman,  and  the 
party  shall  be  no  more  vexed;  S. 
Thomas  says :  We  ought  not  to  marvel 


at  this,  for  the  smoke  of  a  certain  tree 
when  it  is  burned  seems  to  have  the 
same  virtue,  as  if  it  had  in  it  some 
spiritual  sense,  or  power  of  spiritual 
prayer  for  the  future. 

Of  the  same  opinion  are  Blessed 
Albert,  in  his  commentary  on  S.  Luke  ix, 
and  Nicolas  of  Lyra  and  Paul  of 
Burgos,*  on  I.  Samuel  xvi.  The  last- 
named  homilist  comes  to  this  conclu¬ 
sion  :  that  it  must  be  allowed  that  those 
possessed  by  a  devil  can  not  only  be 
relieved,  but  even  entirely  delivered  by 
means  of  material  things,  understand¬ 
ing  that  in  the  latter  case  they  are  not 
very  fiercely  molested.  And  he  proves 
this  by  reasoning  as  follows:  Devils 
cannot  alter  corporeal  matter  just  at 
their  will,  but  only  by  bringing  to¬ 
gether  complementary  active  and  pas¬ 
sive  agents,  as  Nicolas  says.  In  the 
same  way  some  material  object  can 
cause  in  the  human  body  a  disposition 
which  makes  it  susceptible  to  the  opera¬ 
tions  of  the  devil.  For  example,  accord¬ 
ing  to  physicians,  mania  very  much  pre¬ 
disposes  a  man  to  dementia,  and  con¬ 
sequently  to  demoniac  obsession :  there¬ 
fore  if,  in  such  a  case,  the  predisposing 
passive  agent  be  removed,  it  will  follow 
that  the  active  affliction  of  the  devil  will 
be  cured. 

In  this  light  we  may  consider  the 
fish’s  liver ;  and  the  music  of  David,  by 
which  Saul  was  at  first  relieved  and  then 
entirely  delivered  of  the  evil  spirit ;  for 
it  says:  And  the  evil  spirit  departed 
from  him.  But  it  is  not  consonant  with 
the  meaning  of  the  Scripture  to  say  that 
this  was  done  by  the  merits  or  prayers 
of  David ;  for  the  Scripture  says  nothing 
of  any  such  matter,  wjiereas  it  would 
have  spoken  notably  in  his  praise  if  this 
had  been  so.  This  reasoning  we  take 
from  Paul  of  Burgos.  There  is  also 
the  reason  which  we  gave  in  Question  V 
of  the  First  Part :  that  Saul  was  liber- 


*  “ Paul  of  Burgos .”  Paul  de  Santa  Maria , 
a  Spanish  Archbishop ,  Lord  Chancellor ,  and 
exegete,  born  at  Burgos  about  1351;  died  23 
August ,  1433 .  The  most  wealthy  and  influential 
Jew  of  Burgos  {Jewish  name  Solomon-Ha- 
Levi ),  and  a  scholar  of  the  first  rank  in  Talmudic 
and  Rabbinical  literature ,  a  Rabbi  of  the  Hebraic 
community,  he  was  converted  to  Christianity  by 
the  irrefutable  logic  of  the  “Summa”  of  S. 
Thomas.  He  received  baptism  21  July,  1330. 
His  reputation  as  a  Biblical  writer  chiefly  rests 
upon  his  “ Additiones ”  to  the  “ Postilla ”  of 
Nicolas  of  Lyra,  Nuremberg,  1481;  Venice, 
1481;  and  many  other  editions. 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  6 


MALEFICARUM 


179 


ated  because  by  the  harp  was  pre¬ 
figured  the  virtue  of  the  Cross  on  which 
were  stretched  the  Sacred  Limbs  of 
Christ’s  Body.  And  more  is  written 
there  which  may  be  considered  to¬ 
gether  with  the  present  inquiry.  But 
we  shall  only  conclude  by  saying  that 
the  use  of  material  things  in  lawful 
exorcisms  is  not  superstitious.  And  now 
it  is  expedient  that  we  should  speak 
about  the  exorcisms  themselves. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  VI 

Prescribed  Remedies ;  to  wit ,  the  Lawful 
Exorcisms  of  the  Church3  for  all  Sorts  of 
Infirmities  and  Ills  due  to  Witchcraft; 
and  the  Method  of  Exorcising  those  who 
are  Bewitched. 

IT  has  already  been  stated  that  witches 
can  afflict  men  with  every  kind  of 
physical  infirmity ;  therefore  it  can  be 
taken  as  a  general  rule  that  the  various 
verbal  or  practical  remedies  which  can 
be  applied  in  the  case  of  those  infirmi¬ 
ties  which  we  have  just  been  discussing 
are  equally  applicable  to  all  other  in¬ 
firmities,  such  as  epilepsy  or  leprosy,  for 
example.  And  as  lawful  exorcisms  are 
reckoned  among  the  verbal  remedies 
and  have  been  most  often  considered  by 
us,  they  may  be  taken  as  a  general  type 
of  such  remedies ;  and  there  are  three 
matters  to  be  considered  regarding  them. 

First,  we  must  judge  whether  a  per¬ 
son  who  has  not  been  ordained  as  an 
exorcist,  such  as  a  layman  or  a  secular 
cleric,  may  lawfully  exorcise  devils  and 
their  works.  Bound  up  with  this  ques¬ 
tion  are  three  others:  namely;  first, 
what  constitutes  the  legality  of  this 
practice ;  secondly,  the  seven  conditions 
which  must  be  observed  when  one 
wishes  to  make  private  use  of  charms 
and  benedictions ;  and  thirdly,  in  what 
way  the  disease  is  to  be  exorcised  and 
the  devil  conjured. 

Secondly,  we  must  consider  what  is  to 
be  done  when  no  healing  grace  results 
from  the  exorcism. 

Thirdly,  we  must  consider  practical 
and  not  verbal  remedies ;  together  with 
the  solution  of  certain  arguments. 

For  the  first,  we  have  the  opinion,  of 
S.  Thomas  in  Book  IV,  dist.  23.  He 
says:  When  a  man  is  ordained  as  an 
exorcist,  or  into  any  of  the  other  minor 
Orders,  he  has  conferred  upon  him  the 


power  of  exorcism  in  his  official  ca¬ 
pacity;  and  this  power  may  even  law¬ 
fully  be  used  by  those  who  belong  to  no 
Order,  but  such  do  not  exercise  it  in 
their  official  capacity.  Similarly  the 
Mass  can  be  said  in  an  unconsecrated 
house,  although  the  very  purpose  of 
consecrating  a  church  is  that  the  Mass 
may  be  said  there ;  but  this  is  more  on 
account  of  the  grace  which  is  in  the 
righteous  than  of  the  grace  of  the 
Sacrament. 

From  these  words  we  may  conclude 
that,  although  it  is  good  that  in  the 
liberation  of  a  bewitched  person  re¬ 
course  should  be  had  to  an  exorcist 
having  authority  to  exorcise  such  be¬ 
witchments,  yet  at  times  other  devout 
persons  may,  either  with  or  without  any 
exorcism,  cast  out  this  sort  of  diseases. 

For  we  hear  of  a  certain  poor  and 
very  devout  virgin,  one  of  whose  friends 
had  been  grievously  bewitched  in  his 
foot,  so  that  it  was  clear  to  the  phy¬ 
sicians  that  he  could  be  cured  by  no 
medicines.  But  it  happened  that  the 
virgin  went  to  visit  the  sick  man,  and 
he  at  once  begged  her  to  apply  some 
benediction  to  his  foot.  She  consented, 
and  did  no  more  than  silently  say  the 
Lord’s  Prayer  and  the  Apostles’  Greed, 
at  the  same  time  making  use  of  the  sign 
of  the  life-giving  Gross.  The  sick  man 
then  felt  himself  at  once  cured,  and, 
that  he  might  have  a  remedy  for  the 
future,  asked  the  virgin  what  charms  she 
had  used.  But  she  answered :  You  are  of 
little  faith  and  do  not  hold  to  the  holy 
and  lawful  practices  of  the  Church,  and 
you  often  apply  forbidden  charms  and 
remedies  for  your  infirmities ;  therefore 
are  you  rarely  healthy  in  your  body, 
because  you  are  always  sick  in  your  soul. 
But  if  you  would  put  your  trust  in 
prayer  and  in  the  efficacy  of  lawful 
symbols,  you  will  often  be  very  easily 
cured.  For  I  did  nothing  but  repeat  the 
Lord’s  Prayer  and  the  Apostles’  Greed, 
and  you  are  now  cured. 

This  example  gives  rise  to  the  ques¬ 
tion,  whether  there  is  not  any  efficacy 
in  other  benedictions  and  charms,  and 
even  conjurations  by  way  of  exorcism ; 
for  they  seem  to  be  condemned  in  this 
story.  We  answer  that  the  virgin  con¬ 
demned  only  unlawful  charms  and  un¬ 
lawful  conjurations  and  exorcisms. 

To  understand  these  last  we  must 
consider  how  they  originated,  and  how 
they  came  to  be  abused.  For  they  were 
in  their  origin  entirely  sacred ;  but  just 


i8o 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  6 


as  by  the  means  of  devils  and  wicked 
men  all  things  can  be  defiled,  so  also 
were  these  sacred  words.  For  it  is  said 
in  the  last  chapter  of  S.  Mark,  of  the 
Apostles  and  holy  men :  In  My  Name 
shall  they  cast  out  devils;  and  they 
visited  the  sick,  and  prayed  over  them 
with  sacred  words;  and  in  after  times 
priests  devoutly  used  similar  rites ;  and 
therefore  there  are  to  be  found  to-day  in 
ancient  Churches  devout  prayers  and 
holy  exorcisms  which  men  can  use  or 
undergo,  when  they  are  applied  by 
pious  men  as  they  used  to  be,  without 
any  superstition ;  even  as  there  are  now 
to  be  found  learned  men  and  Doctors 
of  holy  Theology  who  visit  the  sick  and 
use  such  words  for  the  healing  not  only 
of  demoniacs,  but  of  other  diseases  as 
well. 

But,  alas !  superstitious  men  have,  on 
the  pattern  of  these,  found  for  them¬ 
selves  many  vain  and  unlawful  remedies 
which  they  employ  in  these  days  for  sick 
men  and  animals ;  and  the  clergy  have 
become  too  slothful  to  use  any  more  the 
lawful  words  when  they  visit  the  sick. 
On  this  account  Gulielmus  Durandus,* 
the  commentator  on  S.  Raymond,  says 
that  such  lawful  exorcisms  may  be  used 
by  a  religious  and  discreet  priest,  or  by 
a  layman,  or  even  by  a  woman  of  good 
life  and  proved  discretion ;  by  the 
offering  of  lawful  prayers  over  the  sick : 
not  over  fruits  or  animals,  but  over  the 
sick.  For  the  Gospel  says:  They  shall 
place  their  hands  upon  the  sick,  etc. 
And  such  persons  are  not  to  be  pre¬ 
vented  from  practising  in  this  way; 
unless  perhaps  it  is  feared  that,  follow¬ 
ing  their  example,  other  indiscreet  and 
superstitious  persons  should  make  im¬ 
proper  use  of  incantations.  It  is  these 
superstitious  diviners  whom  that  virgin 
we  have  mentioned  condemned,  when 


*  “Durandus.”  William  Duranti ,  canonist 
and  one  of  the  most  important  mediaeval 
liturgical  writers ,  born  about  1237  at  Pui- 
misson,  Provence;  died  at  Rome  1  November , 
1236.  His  career  was  most  noble  and  distin¬ 
guished.  A  long  epitaph  upon  his  monument  in 
Santa  Maria  sopra  Minerva  tells  the  story  of  his 
life  and  gives  a  list  of  his  works.  The  most 
important  of  these  is  the  “ Rationale  diuinorum 
officiorum the  first  edition  of  which  by  Fust  and 
Schoeffer  was  issued  at  Mainz  in  1453.  It  has 
been  frequently  reprinted,  the  last  complete  edition 
being  Naples,  i8jg.  The  “  Speculum  Iudiciale ” 
and  the  “ Commentarius  in  canones  Concilii 
Lugdunensis  II”  are  valuable  treatises  upon  the 
canons  and  canonical  processes. 


she  said  that  they  who  consulted  with 
such  had  weak,  that  is  to  say  bad,  faith. 

Now  for  the  elucidation  of  this 
matter  it  is  asked  how  it  is  possible  to 
know  whether  the  words  of  such  charms 
and  benedictions  are  lawful  or  super¬ 
stitious,  and  how  they  ought  to  be  used ; 
and  whether  the  devil  can  be  conjured 
and  diseases  exorcised. 

In  the  first  place,  that  is  said  to  be 
lawful  in  the  Christian  religion  which  is 
not  superstitious ;  and  that  is  said  to  be 
superstitious  which  is  over  and  above 
the  prescribed  form  of  religion.  See 
Colossians  ii :  Which  things  indeed  have 
a  show  of  wisdom  in  superstition:  on 
which  the  gloss  says:  Superstition  is 
undisciplined  religion,  that  is,  religion 
observed  with  defective  methods  in  evil 
circumstances. 

Anything,  also,  is  superstition  which 
human  tradition  without  higher  author¬ 
ity  has  caused  to  usurp  the  name 
of  religion ;  such  as  the  interpolation  of 
hymns  at  Holy  Mass,  the  alteration  of 
the  Preface  for  Requiems,  the  abbre¬ 
viation  of  the  Greed  which  is  to  be  sung 
at  Mass,  the  reliance  upon  an  organ 
rather  than  upon  the  choir  for  the 
music,  neglect  to  have  a  Server  on  the 
Altar,  and  such  practices.  But  to  return 
to  our  point,  when  a  work  is  done  by 
virtue  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  when 
someone  wishes  to  heal  the  sick  by 
means  of  prayer  and  benediction  and 
sacred  words  (which  is  the  matter  we 
are  considering),  such  a  person  must 
observe  seven  conditions  by  which  such 
benedictions  are  rendered  lawful.  And 
even  if  he  uses  adjurations,  through  the 
virtue  of  the  Divine  Name,  and  by  the 
virtue  of  the  works  of  Christ,  His  Birth, 
Passion  and  Precious  Death,  by  which 
the  devil  was  conquered  and  cast  out; 
such  benedictions  and  charms  and 
exorcisms  shall  be  called  lawful,  and 
they  who  practise  them  are  exorcists  or 
lawful  enchanters.  See  S.  Isidore,  Etym. 
VIII,  Enchanters  are  they  whose  art 
and  skill  lies  in  the  use  of  words. 

And  the  first  of  these  conditions,  as 
we  learn  from  S.  Thomas^  is  that  there 
must  be  nothing  in  the  words  which 
hints  at  any  expressed  or  tacit  invoca¬ 
tion  of  devils.  If  such  were  expressed,  it 
would  be  obviously  unlawful.  If  it  were 
tacit,  it  might  be  considered  in  the  light 
of  intention,  or  in  that  of  fact :  in  that 
of  intention,  when  the  operator  has  no 
care  whether  it  is  God  or  the  devil  who 
is  helping  him,  so  long  as  he  attains  his 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  6 


MALEFICARUM 


1&1 


desired  result ;  in  that  of  fact,  when  a 
person  has  no  natural  aptitude  for  such 
work,  but  creates  some  artificial  means. 
And  of  such  not  only  must  physicians 
and  astronomers  be  the  judges,  but 
especially  Theologians.  For  in  this  way 
do  necromancers  work,  making  images 
and  rings  and  stones  by  artificial 
means ;  which  have  no  natural  virtue  to 
effect  the  results  which  they  very  often 
expect :  therefore  the  devil  must  be  con¬ 
cerned  in  their  works. 

Secondly,  the  benedictions  or  charms 
must  contain  no  unknown  names;  for 
according  to  S.  John  Chrysostom  such 
are  to  be  regarded  with  fear,  lest  they 
should  conceal  some  matter  of  super¬ 
stition. 

Thirdly,  there  must  be  nothing  in  the 
words  that  is  untrue ;  for  if  there  is,  the 
effect  of  them  cannot  be  from  God, 
Who  is  not  a  witness  to  a  lie.  But  some 
old  women  in  their  incantations  use 
some  such  jingling  doggerel  as  the 
following : 

Blessed  MARY  went  a-walking 
Over  Jordan  river. 

Stephen  met  her,  and  fell  a-talking,  etc. 

Fourthly,  there  must  be  no  vanities, 
or  written  characters  beyond  the  sign 
of  the  Cross.  Therefore  the  charms 
which  soldiers  are  wont  to  carry  are 
condemned. 

Fifthly,  no  faith  must  be  placed  in  the 
method  of  writing  or  reading  or  binding 
the  charm  about  a  person,  or  in  any 
such  vanity,  which  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  reverence  of  God,  without 
which  a  charm  is  altogether  super¬ 
stitious. 

Sixthly,  in  the  citing  and  uttering  of 
Divine  words  and  of  Holy  Scripture 
attention  must  only  be  paid  to  the 
sacred  words  themselves  and  their 
meaning,  and  to  the  reverence  of  God ; 
whether  the  effect  be  looked  for  from 
the  Divine  virtue,  or  from  the  relics  of 
Saints,  which  are  a  secondary  power, 
since  their  virtue  springs  originally  from 
God. 

Seventhly,  the  looked-for  effect  must 
be  left  to  the  Divine  Will ;  for  He  knows 
whether  it  is  best  for  a  man  to  be  healed 
or  to  be  plagued,  or  to  die.  This  con¬ 
dition  was  set  down  by  S.  Thomas. 

So  we  may  conclude  that  if  none  of 
these  conditions  be  broken,  the  incan¬ 
tation  will  be  lawful.  And  S.  Thomas 
writes  in  this  connexion  on  the  last 
chapter  of  S.  Mark:  And  these  signs 


shall  follow  them  that  believe;  in  my 
name  shall  they  cast  out  devils;  they 
shall  take  up  serpents.  From  this  it  is 
clear  that,  provided  the  above  con¬ 
ditions  are  observed,  it  is  lawful  by 
means  of  sacred  words  to  keep  serpents 
away. 

S.  Thomas  says  further :  The  words  of 
God  are  not  less  holy  than  the  Relics 
of  the  Saints.  As  S.  Augustine  says: 
The  word  of  God  is  not  less  than  the 
Body  of  Christ.  But  all  are  agreed  that 
it  is  lawful  to  carry  reverently  about 
the  person  the  Relics  of  the  Saints: 
therefore  let  us  by  all  means  invoke  the 
name  of  God  by  duly  using  the  Lord’s 
Prayer  and  the  Angelic  Salutation,  by 
His  Birth  and  Passion,  by  His  Five 
Wounds,  and  by  the  Seven  Words 
which  He  spoke  on  the  Gross,  by  the 
Triumphant  Inscription,  by  the  three 
nails,  and  by  the  other  weapons  of 
Christ’s  army  against  the  devil  and  his 
works.  By  all  these  means  it  is  lawful 
to  work,  and  our  trust  may  be  placed  in 
them,  leaving  the  issue  to  God’s  will. 

And  what  has  been  said  about  the 
keeping  off  of  serpents  applies  also  to 
other  animals,  provided  that  the  atten¬ 
tion  is  fixed  only  on  the  sacred  words 
and  the  Divine  virtue.  But  great  care 
is  to  be  used  in  incantations  of  this 
nature.  For  S.  Thomas  says:  Such 
diviners  often  use  unlawful  observances, 
and  obtain  magic  effects  by  means  of 
devils,  especially  in  the  case  of  ser¬ 
pents;  for  the  serpent  was  the  devil’s 
first  instrument  by  which  he  deceived 
mankind. 

For  in  the  town  of  Salzburg  there 
was  a  certain  mage  who  one  day,  in 
open  view  of  all,  wanted  to  charm  all 
the  snakes  into  a  particular  pit,  and 
kill  them  all  within  an  area  of  a  mile. 
So  he  gathered  all  the  snakes  together, 
and  was  himself  standing  over  the  pit, 
when  last  of  all  there  came  a  huge  and 
horrible  serpent  which  would  not  go 
into  the  pit.  This  serpent  kept  making 
signs  to  the  man  to  let  it  go  away  and 
crawl  where  it  would ;  but  he  would  not 
cease  from  his  incantation,  but  insisted 
that,  as  all  the  other  snakes  had  entered 
the  pit  and  there  died,  so  also  must  this 
horrible  serpent.  But  it  stood  on  the 
opposite  side  to  the  warlock,  and  sud¬ 
denly  leapt  over  the  pit  and  fell  upon 
the  man,  wrapping  itself  round  his  belly, 
and  dragged  him  with  itself  into  the  pit, 
where  they  both  died.  From  this  it  may 
be  seen  that  only  for  a  useful  purpose, 


182 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Gh.  6 


such  as  driving  them  away  from  men’s 
houses,  are  such  incantations  to  be 
practised,  and  they  are  to  be  done  by 
the  Divine  virtue,  and  in  the  fear  of 
God,  and  with  reverence. 

In  the  second  place  we  have  to  con¬ 
sider  how  exorcisms  or  charms  of  this 
kind  ought  to  be  used,  and  whether  they 
should  be  worn  round  the  neck  or  sewn 
into  the  clothing.  It  may  seem  that  such 
practices  are  unlawful ;  for  S.  Augustine 
says,  in  the  Second  Book  on  the  Christian 
Doctrine  :  There  are  a  thousand  magic 
devices  and  amulets  and  charms  which 
are  all  superstitious,  and  the  School  of 
Medicine  utterly  condemns  them  all, 
whether  they  are  incantations,  or  cer¬ 
tain  marks  which  are  called  characters, 
or  engraved  charms  to  be  hung  round 
the  neck. 

Also  S.  John  Chrysostom,  comment¬ 
ing  on  S.  Matthew ,  says :  Some  persons 
wear  round  their  neck  some  written 
portion  of  the  Gospel;  but  is  not  the 
Gospel  every  day  read  in  the  church 
and  heard  by  all?  How  then  shall  a 
man  be  helped  by  wearing  the  Gospel 
round  his  neck,  when  he  has  reaped  no 
benefit  from  hearing  it  with  his  ears? 
For  in  what  does  the  virtue  of  the  Gos¬ 
pel  consist ;  in  the  characters  of  its 
letters,  or  in  the  meaning  of  its  words  ? 
If  in  the  characters,  you  do  well  to 
hang  it  round  your  neck ;  but  if  in  the 
meaning,  surely  it  is  of  more  benefit 
when  planted  in  the  heart  than  when 
worn  round  the  neck. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Doctors 
answer  as  follows,  especially  S.  Thomas 
where  he  asks  whether  it  is  unlawful  to 
hang  sacred  words  round  the  neck. 
Their  opinion  is  that,  in  all  charms  and 
writings  so  worn,  there  are  two  things 
to  be  avoided. 

First,  in  whatever  is  written  there 
must  be  nothing  that  savours  of  an  in¬ 
vocation  of  devils ;  for  then  it  is  mani¬ 
festly  superstitious  and  unlawful,  and 
must  be  judged  as  an  apostasy  from  the 
faith,  as  has  often  been  said  before. 

Similarly,  in  accordance  with  the 
above  seven  conditions,  it  must  not  con¬ 
tain  any  unknown  names.  But  if  these 
two  snares  be  avoided,  it  is  lawful  both 
to  place  such  charms  on  the  lips  of  the 
sick,  and  for  the  sick  to  carry  them  with 
them.  But  the  Doctors  condemn  their 
use  in  one  respect,  that  is,  when  a  man 
pays  greater  attention  to  and  has  more 
reliance  upon  the  mere  signs  of  the 
written  letters  than  upon  their  meaning. 


It  may  be  said  that  a  layman  who 
does  not  understand  the  words  cannot 
pay  any  attention  to  their  meaning. 
But  it  is  enough  if  such  a  man  fixes  his 
thoughts  on  the  Divine  virtue,  and 
leaves  it  to  the  Divine  will  to  do  what 
seems  good  to  His  mercy. 

In  the  third  place  we  have  to  con¬ 
sider  whether  the  devil  is  to  be  conjured 
and  the  disease  exorcised  at  the  same 
time,  or  whether  a  different  order 
should  be  observed,  or  whether  one  of 
these  operations  can  take  place  without 
the  other.  Here  there  are  several  points 
to  be  considered.  First,  whether  the 
devil  is  always  present  when  the  sick 
man  is  afflicted.  Second,  what  sort  of 
things  are  capable  of  being  exorcised  or 
remedied.  Third,  the  method  of  exor¬ 
cising. 

For  the  first  point,  it  would  seem,  fol¬ 
lowing  that  pronouncement  of  S.  John 
Damascene  that  where  the  devil  operates 
there  he  is,  that  the  devil  is  always 
present  in  the  sick  man  when  he  afflicts 
him.  Also  in  the  history  of  S.  Bartholo¬ 
mew  it  seems  that  a  man  is  only  de¬ 
livered  from  the  devil  when  he  is  cured 
of  his  sickness. 

But  this  can  be  answered  as  follows. 
When  it  is  said  that  the  devil  is  present 
in  a  sick  man,  this  can  be  understood  in 
two  ways :  either  that  he  is  personally 
present,  or  that  he  is  present  in  the 
effect  which  he  has  caused.  In  the  first 
sense  he  is  present  when  he  first  causes 
the  sickness;  in  the  second  sense  he  is 
said  to  be  present  not  personally  but  in 
the  effect.  In  this  way,  when  the  Doc¬ 
tors  ask  whether  the  devil  substantially 
inhabits  a  man  who  commits  mortal  sin, 
they  say  that  he  is  not  personally 
present,  but  only  in  effect;  just  as  a 
master  is  said  to  dwell  in  his  servants 
in  respect  of  his  mastership.  But  the 
case  is  quite  otherwise  with  men  who 
are  possessed  by  a  devil. 

For  the  second  point,  as  to  what  sort 
of  things  can  be  exorcised,  the  opinion 
of  S.  Thomas,  Book  IV,  dist.  6,  should 
be  noted,  where  he  says  that  on  account 
of  man’s  sin  the  devil  receives  power 
over  a  man  and  over  everything  which 
a  man  uses,  to  hurt  him  with  them; 
and  since  there  can  be  no  compromise 
of  Christ  with  Belial,  therefore  when¬ 
ever  anything  is  to  be  sanctified  for 
Divine  worship,  it  is  first  exorcised  that 
it  may  be  consecrated  to  God  freed 
from  the  power  of  the  devil,  by  which 
it  might  be  turned  to  the  hurt  of  merr. 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Gh.  6 


MALEFICARUM 


183 


This  is  shown  in  the  blessing  of  water, 
the  consecration  of  a  church,  and  in  all 
matters  of  this  sort.  Therefore,  since 
the  first  act  of  reconciliation  by  which 
a  man  is  consecrated  to  God  is  in 
baptism,  it  is  necessary  that  a  man 
should  be  exorcised  before  he  is  bap¬ 
tized;  indeed  in  this  it  is  more  imper¬ 
ative  than  in  any  other  circumstance. 
For  in  man  himself  lies  the  cause  >.y 
reason  of  which  the  devil  receives  his 
power  in  other  matters  which  are 
brought  about  by  man,  namely,  sin, 
either  original  or  actual.  This  then  is 
the  significance  of  the  words  that  are 
used  in  exorcism,  as  when  it  is  said, 
“Depart,  O  Satan,  from  him”;  and 
likewise  of  the  things  that  are  then  done. 

To  return,  then,  to  the  actual  point. 
When  it  is  asked  whether  the  disease  is 
to  be  exorcised  and  the  devil  adjured, 
and  which  of  these  should  be  done 
first ;  it  is  answered  that  not  the  disease, 
but  the  sick  and  bewitched  man  him¬ 
self  is  exorcised :  just  as  in  the  case  of  a 
child,  it  is  not  the  infection  of  the  fomes 
which  is  exorcised,  but  the  child  itself. 
Also,  just  as  the  child  is  first  exorcised, 
and  then  the  devil  is  adjured  to  depart ; 
so  also  is  the  bewitched  person  first 
exorcised,  and  afterwards  the  devil  and 
his  works  are  bidden  to  depart.  Again, 
just  as  salt  and  water  are  exorcised,  so 
are  all  things  which  can  be  used  by  the 
sick  man,  so  that  it  is  expedient  to 
exorcise  and  bless  chiefly  his  food  and 
drink.  In  the  case  of  baptism  the  fol¬ 
lowing  ceremony  of  exorcism  is  ob¬ 
served  :  the  exsufflation  towards  the 
West  and  the  renunciation  of  the  devil ; 
secondly,  the  raising  of  the  hands  with 
a  solemn  confession  of  the  faith  of 
the  Christian  religion ;  thirdly,  prayer, 
benediction,  and  the  laying  on  of 
hands ;  fourthly,  the  stripping  and 
anointing  with  Holy  Oil;  and  after 
baptism,  the  communion  and  the 
putting  on  of  the  chrisom.  But  all  this 
is  not  necessary  in  the  exorcism  of  one 
who  is  bewitched;  but  that  he  should 
first  have  made  a  good  confession,  and 
if  possible  he  is  to  hold  a  lighted  candle, 
and  receive  the  Holy  Communion ;  and 
instead  of  putting  on  a  chrisom,  he  is  to 
remain  bound  naked  to  a  Holy  Candle 
of  the  length  of  Christ’s  body  or  of  the 
Cross.  And  then  may  be  said  the 
following : 

I  exorcise  thee,  Peter,  or  thee,  Bar¬ 
bara,  being  weak  but  reborn  in  Holy 


Baptism,  by  the  living  God,  by  the  true 
God,  by  God  Who  redeemed  thee  with 
His  Precious  Blood,  that  thou  mayest 
be  exorcised,  that  all  the  illusions  and 
wickedness  of  the  devil’s  deceits  may 
depart  and  flee  from  thee  together  with 
every  unclean  spirit,  adjured  by  Him 
Who  will  come  to  judge  both  the  quick 
and  the  dead,  and  who  will  purge  the 
earth  with  fire.  Amen. 

Let  us  pray. 

O  God  of  mercy  and  pity,  Who 
according  to  Thy  tender  lovinglandness 
chastenest  those  whom  Thou  dost 
cherish,  and  dost  gently  compel  those 
whom  Thou  receivest  to  turn  their 
hearts,  we  invoke  Thee,  O  Lord,  that 
Thou  wilt  vouchsafe  to  bestow  Thy 
grace  upon  Thy  servant  who  suffereth 
from  a  weakness  in  the  limbs  of  his 
body,  that  whatever  is  corrupt  by 
earthly  frailty,  whatever  is  made  violate 
by  the  deceit  of  the  devil,  may  find 
redemption  in  the  unity  of  the  body  of 
the  Church.  Have  mercy,  O  Lord,  on 
his  groaning,  have  mercy  upon  his 
tears;  and  as  he  putteth  his  trust  only 
in  Thy  mercy,  receive  him  in  the  sacra¬ 
ment  of  Thy  reconciliation,  through 
Jesus  Christ  Our  Lord.  Amen. 

Therefore,  accursed  devil,  hear  thy 
doom,  and  give  honour  to  the  true  and 
living  God,  give  honour  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  thou  depart  with  thy 
works  from  this  servant  whom  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  hath  redeemed  with  His 
Precious  Blood. 

Then  let  him  exorcise  him  a  second 
and  yet  a  third  time,  with  the  prayers 
as  above. 

Let  us  pray. 

God,  Who  dost  ever  mercifully 
govern  all  things  that  Thou  hast  made, 
incline  Thine  ear  to  our  prayers,  and 
look  in  mercy  upon  Thy  servant 
labouring  under  the  sickness  of  th6 
body;  visit  him,  and  grant  him  Thy 
salvation  and  the  healing  virtue  of  Thy 
heavenly  grace,  through  Christ  our 
Lord.  Amen. 

Therefore,  accursed  devil,  etc. 

The  prayer  for  the  third  exorcism. 

O  God,  the  only  protection  of  human 
frailty,  show  forth  the  mighty  power  of 
Thy  strong  aid  upon  our  sick  brother 
(or  sister),  that  being  holpen  by  Thy 
mercy  he  (she)  may  be  worthy  to  enter 
Thy  Holy  Church  in  safety,  through 
Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 


184 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  6 


And  let  the  exorcist  continually 
sprinkle  him  with  Holy  Water.  And 
note  that  this  method  is  recommended, 
not  because  it  must  be  rigidly  observed, 
or  that  other  exorcisms  are  not  of 
greater  efficacy,  but  that  there  should 
be  some  regular  system  of  exorcism  and 
adjuration.  For  in  the  old  histories  and 
books  of  the  Church  there  are  some¬ 
times  found  more  devout  and  powerful 
exorcisms;  but  since  before  all  things 
the  reverence  of  God  is  necessary,  let 
each  proceed  in  this  matter  as  he  finds 
it  best.  v 

In  conclusion,  and  for  the  sake  of 
clearness,  we  may  recommend  this  form 
of  exorcism  for  a  person  who  is  be¬ 
witched.  Let  him  first  make  a  good 
confession  (according  to  the  often- 
quoted  Canon:  If  by  sortilege,  etc.). 
Then  let  a  diligent  search  be  made  in 
all  corners  and  in  the  beds  and  mat¬ 
tresses  and  under  the  threshold  of  the 
door,  in  case  some  instrument  of  witch¬ 
craft  may  be  found.  The  bodies  of 
animals  bewitched  to  death  are  at  once 
to  be  burned.  And  it  is  expedient  that 
all  bed-clothes  and  garments  should  be 
renewed,  and  even  that  he  should 
change  his  house  and  dwelling.  But  in 
case  nothing  is  found,  then  he  who  is  to 
to  be  exorcised  should  if  possible  go 
into  the  church  in  the  morning,  espe¬ 
cially  on  the  Holier  Days,  such  as  the 
Feasts  of  Our  Lady,  or  on  some  Vigil ; 
and  the  better  if  the  priest  also  has  con¬ 
fessed  and  is  in  a  state  of  grace,  for 
then  the  stronger  will  he  be.  And  let 
him  who  is  to  be  exorcised  hold  in  his 
hand  a  Holy  Candle  as  well  as  he  can, 
either  sitting  or  kneeling ;  and  let  those 
who  are  present  offer  up  devout  prayers 
for  his  deliverance.  And  let  him  begin 
the  Litany  at  “Our  help  is  in  the  Name 
of  the  Lord,”  and  let  one  be  appointed 
to  make  the  responses :  let  him  sprinkle 
him  with  Holy  Water,  and  place  a 
stole  round  his  neck,  and  recite  the 
Psalm  “Haste  thee,  O  God,  to  deliver 
me” ;  and  let  him  continue  the  Litany 
for  the  Sick,  saying  at  the  Invocation  of 
the  Saints,  “Pray  for  him  and  be 
favourable ;  deliver  him,  O  Lord,”  con¬ 
tinuing  thus  to  the  end.  But  where  the 
prayers  are  to  be  said,  then  in  the  place 
of  the  prayers  let  him  begin  the  exor¬ 
cism,  and  continue  in  the  way  we  have 
declared,  or  in  any  other  better  way, 
as  seems  good  to  him.  And  this  sort  of 
exorcism  may  be  continued  at  least 
three  times  a  week,  that  so  through 


many  intercessions  the  grace  of  health 
may  be  obtained. 

Finally,  he  must  receive  the  Sacra¬ 
ment  of  the  Eucharist;  although  some 
think  that  this  should  be  done  before 
the  exorcism.  And  at  his  confession  the 
confessor  must  inquire  whether  he  is 
under  any  bond  of  excommunication, 
and  if  he  is,  whether  he  has  rashly 
omitted  to  obtain  absolution  from  his 
Judge;  for  then,  although  he  may  at 
his  discretion  absolve  him,  yet  when  he 
has  regained  his  health,  he  must  seek 
absolution  also  from  the  Judge  who 
excommunicated  him. 

It  should  further  be  noted  that,  when 
the  exorcist  is  not  ordained  to  the  Order 
of  Exorcist,  then  he  may  proceed  with 
prayers ;  and  if  he  can  read  the  Scrip¬ 
tures,  let  him  read  the  beginnings  of  the 
four  Gospels  of  the  Evangelists,  and  the 
Gospel  beginning,  “There  was  an  Angel 
sent” ;  and  the  Passion  of  our  Lord;  all 
of  which  have  great  power  to  expel  the 
works  of  the  devil.  Also  let  the  Gospel 
of  S.  John,  “In  the  beginning  was  the 
Word,”  be  written  and  hung  round  the 
sick  man’s  neck,  and  so  let  the  grace  of 
healing  be  looked  for  from  God. 

But  if  anyone  asks  what  is  the  differ¬ 
ence  between  the  aspersion  of  Holy 
Water  and  exorcism,  since  both  are 
ordained  against  the  plagues  of  the 
devil,  the  answer  is  supplied  by  S. 
Thomas,  who  says :  The  devil  attacks  us 
from  without  and  from  within.  There¬ 
fore  Holy  Water  is  ordained  against  his 
attacks  from  without ;  but  exorcism 
against  those  from  within.  For  this 
reason  those  for  whom  exorcism  is  neces¬ 
sary  are  called  Energoumenoi,  from  En, 
meaning  In,  and  Ergon ,  meaning  Work, 
since  they  labour  within  themselves. 
But  in  exorcising  a  bewitched  person 
both  methods  are  to  be  used,  because  he 
is  tormented  both  within  and  without. 

Our  second  main  consideration  is 
what  is  to  be  done  when  no  healing 
grace  results  from  exorcisms.  Now  this 
may  happen  for  six  reasons ;  and  there 
is  a  seventh  about  which  we  suspend  any 
definite  judgement.  For  when  a  per¬ 
son  is  not  healed,  it  is  due  either  to  want 
of  faith  in  the  bystanders  or  in  those  who 
present  the  sick  man,  or  to  the  sins  of 
them  who  suffer  from  the  bewitchment, 
or  to  a  neglect  of  the  due  and  fitting 
remedies,  or  to  some  flaw  in  the  faith 
of  the  exorcist,  or  to  the  lack  of  a  greater 
trust  in  the  powers  of  another  exorcist, 
or  to  the  need  of  purgation  and  for 


MALEFICARUM 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  6 

the  increased  merit  of  the  bewitched 
person. 

Concerning  the  first  four  of  these  the 
Gospel  teaches  us  in  the  incident  of  the 
only  son  of  his  father,  who  was  a  luna¬ 
tic,  and  of  the  disciples  of  Christ  being 
there  present  (S.  Matthew  xvii.  and 
S.  Mark  ix.).  For  in  the  first  place  He 
said  that  the  multitude  were  without 
faith;  whereupon  the  father  prayed 
Him,  saying:  Lord,  I  believe:  help 
Thou  mine  unbelief.  And  JESUS  said  to 
the  multitude :  O  faithless  and  perverse 
generation,  how  long  shall  I  be  with 
you? 

Secondly,  with  regard  to  him  who 
endured  the  devil,  JESUS  rebuked  him, 
that  is,  the  son ;  for,  as  Saint  Jerome 
says,  he  had  been  tormented  by  the 
devil  because  of  his  sins. 

Thirdly,  this  illustrates  the  neglect  of 
the  rightful  remedies,  because  good  and 
perfect  men  were  not  at  first  present. 
For  S.  John  Chrysostom  says:  The 
pillars  of  the  faith,  namely,  Peter  and 
James  and  John,  were  not  present,  for 
they  were  at  the  Transfiguration  of 
Christ:  neither  were  there  prayer  and 
fasting,  without  which  Christ  said  that 
this  sort  of  devil  goeth  not  out.  There¬ 
fore  Origen,  writing  on  this  passage, 
*ays :  If  at  any  time  a  man  be  not  cured 
after  prayer,  let  us  not  wonder  or  ask 
questions  or  speak,  as  if  the  unclean 
spirit  were  listening  to  us;  but  let  us 
cast  out  our  evil  spirits  by  prayer  and 
fasting.  And  the  gloss  says :  This  sort 
of  devil,  that  is,  the  variability  of  carnal 
desires  induced  by  that  spirit,  is  not 
conquered  except  by  strengthening  the 
soul  with  prayer,  and  subduing  the 
flesh  with  fasting. 

Fourthly,  the  flaw  in  the  faith  of  the 
exorcist  is  exemplified  in  the  disciples 
of  Christ  who  were  present.  For  when 
they  afterwards  asked  Him  privately 
the  cause  of  their  failure,  He  answered : 
Because  of  your  unbelief:  for  verily  I 
say  unto  you,  If  ye  have  faith  as  a  grain 
of  mustard  seed,  ye  shall  say  unto  this 
mountain,  Remove  hence,*  etc.  And 

*  “ Remove  hence”  The  miracle  of  the 
removal  of  a  mountain  was  actually  performed  by 
S.  Gregory  Thaumaturgus ,  Bishop  of  JVeo- 
caesarea  (  d.  circa  270-275 ),  as  the  Venerable 
Bede  tells  us  in  his  Commentary  upon  “ S.  Mark ” 

**•  “ Hoc  quoque  fieri  potuisset ,  ut  mons  ablatus 
de  terra  mitteretur  in  mare ,  si  necessitas  id 
fieri  poscisset.  Quomodo  legimus  factum  precibus 
beati  patris  Gregorii  Neocaesareae  Ponti  Anti¬ 
stitis,  uiri  mentis  et  uirtutibus  eximii ,  ut  mons  in 

O 


185 

S-  Hilary  says :  The  Apostles  believed, 
indeed,  but  they  were  not  yet  perfect 
in  faith :  for  while  the  Lord  was  away 
in  the  mountain  with  the  other  three, 
and  they  remained  with  the  multitude, 
their  faith  became  lukewarm. 

The  fifth  reason  is  illustrated  in  the 
Lives  of  the  Fathers,  where  we  read 
that  certain  possessed  persons  could  not 
be  delivered  by  S.  Antony,  but  were 
delivered  by  his  disciple,  Paul. 

The  sixth  reason  has  already  been 
made  clear ;  for  not  always  when  a  man 
is  freed  from  sin  is  he  also  freed  from 
punishment,  but  sometimes  the  penalty 
remains  as  a  punishment  and  atone¬ 
ment  for  the  previous  sin. 

There  is  yet  another  remedy  by  which 
many  have  been  said  to  be  delivered, 
namely,  the  re-baptizing  of  those  who 
are  bewitched ;  but  this  is  a  matter  on 
which,  as  we  have  said,  we  can  make  no 
definite  pronouncement.  Nevertheless 
it  is  most  true  that  when  a  person  has 
not  been  duly  exorcised  before  baptism, 
the  devil,  with  God’s  permission,  has 
always  more  power  against  such  a 
person.  And  it  is  clearly  shown  without 
any  doubt  in  what  has  just  been  writ¬ 
ten,  that  much  negligence  is  committed 
by  improperly  instructed  priests  (in 
which  case  it  pertains  to  the  fourth  of 
the  above-noted  impediments,  namely, 
a  flaw  in  the  exorcist),  or  else  by  old  * 
women  who  do  not  observe  the  proper 
method  of  baptism  at  the  necessary 
time. 

However,  God  forbid  that  I  should 
maintain  that  the  Sacraments  cannot  be 
administered  by  wicked  men,  or  that 
when  baptism  is  performed  by  a  wicked 
man  it  is  not  valid,  provided  that  he  ob¬ 
serves  the  proper  forms  and  words.  Simi¬ 
larly  in  the  exorcism  let  him  proceed 
with  due  care,  not  timidly  and  not  rashly. 
And  let  no  one  meddle  with  such  sacred 
offices  by  any  accidental  or  habitual 
omission  of  any  necessary  forms  or 
words ;  for  there  are  four  matters  to  be 
observed  in  the  right  performance  of 

terra  tantum  loco  cederet,  quantum  incolae 
auitatis  opus  habebant.  Cum  enim  uolens 
aedificare  ecclesiam  in  loco  apto,  uident  eum 
angustiorem  esse  quam  res  exigebat,  eo  quod  ex 
una  parte  rupe  maris ,  ex  alia  monte  proximo 
coarctaretur;  uenit  nocte  ad  locum,  et  genibus 
flexis  admonuit  Dominum  promissionis  suae,  ut 
montem  longius  iuxta  fidem  petentis  ageret.  Et 
mane  facto  reuersus  inuenit  montem  tantum  spatii 
reliquisse  structoribus  ecclesiae ,  quantum  opus 
habuerant 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  6 


186 


exorcism,  namely,  the  matter,  the  form, 
the  intention  and  the  order,  as  we  have 
set  them  out  above;  and  when  one  of 
these  is  lacking  it  cannot  be  complete. 

And  it  is  not  valid  to  object  that  in 
the  primitive  Church  persons  were  bap¬ 
tized  without  exorcism,  and  that  even 
now  a  person  is  truly  baptized  without 
any  exorcism ;  for  in  that  case  S. 
Gregory  would  have  instituted  exorcism 
in  vain,  and  the  Church  would  be  in 
error  in  its  ceremonies.*  Therefore  I 
have  not  dared  altogether  to  condemn 
the  re-baptism  under  certain  conditions 
of  bewitched  persons,  that  they  may 
recover  that  which  was  at  first  omitted. 

It  is  said,  also,  of  those  who  walk  in 
their  sleep  during  the  night  over  high 
buildings  without  any  harm,  that  it 
is  the  work  of  evil  spirits  who  thus  lead 
them ;  and  many  affirm  that  when  such 
people  are  re-baptized  they  are  much 
benefited.  And  it  is  wonderful  that, 
when  they  are  called  by  their  own 
names,  they  suddenly  fall  to  the  earth, 
as  if  that  name  had  not  been  given  to 
them  in  proper  form  at  their  baptism. 

Let  the  reader  pay  attention  to  those 
six  impediments  mentioned  above, 
although  they  refer  to  Energoumenoi ,  or 
men  possessed,  rather  than  to  men  be¬ 
witched;  for  though  equal  virtue  is 
required  in  both  cases,  yet  it  may  be 
said  that  it  is  more  difficult  to  cure  a 
bewitched  person  than  one  possessed. 
Therefore  those  impediments  apply 
even  more  pertinently  to  the  case  of 
those  who  are  bewitched ;  as  is  proved 
by  the  following  reasoning. 

It  was  shown  in  Chapter  X  of  the  First 
Question  of  the  Second  Part  that  some 
men  are  at  times  possessed  for  no  sin 
of  their  own,  but  for  the  venial  sin  of 
another  man,  and  for  various  other 


*  “ Ceremonies .”  Actually  baptismal  exorcism 
is  earlier  than  S.  Gregory.  From  the  very  first 
catechumens  were  exorcised  as  a  preparation  for 
the  Sacrament  of  Baptism.  In  this  connexion 
exorcism  is  a  symbolical  anticipation  of  one  of 
the  chief  effects  of  the  Sacrament  of  Regeneration , 
and  since  it  was  used  in  the  case  of  children  who 
had  no  personal  sins,  S.  Augustine,  writing 
against  the  Pelagians,  appeals  to  it  as  clearly 
implying  the  doctrine  of  original  sin.  S.  Cyril  of 
Jerusalem  in  his  “ Catecheses a.d.  347,  gives 
a  detailed  description  of  baptismal  exorcism,  by 
which  it  appears  that  anointing  with  exorcised 
oil  formed  a  part  of  this  function  in  the  East. 
The  earliest  Western  witness  which  explicitly 
treats  unction  as  part  of  the  baptismal  exorcism 
is  that  of  the  Arabic  Canons  of  Hippolytus. 


causes.  But  in  witchcraft,  when  adults 
are  bewitched,  it  generally  happens  to 
them  that  the  devil  grievously  possesses 
them  from  within  for  the  destruction  of 
their  souls.  Therefore  the  labour  re¬ 
quired  in  the  case  of  the  bewitched  is 
twbfold,  whereas  it  is  only  single  in  the 
case  of  the  possessed.  Of  this  most 
grievous  possession  John  Cassian  speaks 
in  his  Collation  of  the  Abbot  Serenus: 
They  are  truly  to  be  judged  unhappy 
and  miserable  who,  although  they  pol¬ 
lute  themselves  with  every  crime  and 
wickedness,  yet  show  no  outward  sign 
of  being  filled  with  the  devil,  nor  does 
there  seem  to  be  any  temptation  com¬ 
mensurate  with  their  deeds,  nor  any 
punishment  sufficient  to  restrain  them. 
For  they  do  not  deserve  even  the  healing 
medicine  of  purgatory,  who  in  their 
hardness  of  heart  and  impenitence  are 
beyond  the  reach  of  any  earthly  cor¬ 
rection,  and  lay  up  to  themselves  anger 
and  vengeance  in  that  day  of  wrath 
and  revelation  of  the  Just  Judgement, 
when  their  worm  shall  not  die. 

And  a  little  earlier,  comparing  the 
possession  of  the  body  with  the  binding 
of  the  soul  in  sin,  he  says:  Far  more 
grievous  and  violent  is  the  torment  of 
those  who  show  no  sign  of  being  bodily 
possessed  by  devils,  but  are  most  terribly 
ossessed  in  their  souls,  being  fast  bound 
y  their  sins  and  vices.  For  according 
to  the  Apostle,  a  man  becomes  the  slave 
of  him  by  whom  he  is  conquered.  And 
in  this  respect  their  case  is  the  most 
desperate,  since  they  are  the  servants 
of  devils,  and  can  neither  resist  nor 
tolerate  that  domination.  It  is  clear  then 
that,  not  they  who  are  possessed  by  the 
devil  from  without,  but  they  who  are 
bewitched  in  their  bodies  and  possessed 
from  within  to  the  perdition  of  their 
souls,  are,  by  reason  of  many  impedi¬ 
ments,  the  more  difficult  to  heal. 

Our  third  main  consideration  is  that 
of  curative  charms,  and  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  these  are  of  two  sorts.  They  are 
either  quite  lawful  and  free  from  suspi¬ 
cion,  or  they  are  to  be  suspected  and 
are  not  altogether  lawful.  We  have 
dealt  with  the  first  sort  in  Chapter  V, 
towards  the  end,  where  we  disposed  of  a 
doubt  as  to  the  legality  of  using  herbs 
and  stones  to  drive  away  a  bewitch¬ 
ment. 

Now  we  must  treat  of  the  second  sort 
which  are  under  suspicion  of  not  being 
altogether  lawful ;  and  we  must  draw 
attention  to  what  was  said  in  the  Intro- 


MALEFICARUM 


187 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  6 

duction  to  the  Second  Question  of  the 
Second  Part  of  this  work  as  to  the  four 
remedies,  of  which  three  are  judged  to 
be  unlawful,  and  the  fourth  not  alto¬ 
gether  so,  but  vain,  being  that  of  which 
the  Canonists  say  that  it  is  lawful  to 
oppose  vanity  to  vanity.  But  we  In¬ 
quisitors  are  of  the  same  opinion  as  the 
Holy  Doctors,  that  when,  owing  to  the 
six  or  seven  impediments  which  we 
have  detailed,  the  remedies  of  sacred 
words  and  lawful  exorcism  are  not  suffi¬ 
cient,  then  those  who  are  so  bewitched 
are  to  be  exhorted  to  bear  with  a  patient 
spirit  the  evils  of  this  present  life  for  the 
purgation  of  their  crimes,  and  not  to 
seek  further  in  any  way  for  superstitious 
and  vain  remedies.  Therefore,  if  anyone 
is  not  content  with  the  aforesaid  lawful 
exorcisms,  and  wishes  to  have  recourse 
to  remedies  which  are,  at  least,  vain, 
of  which  we  have  spoken  before,  let  him 
know  that  he  does  not  do  this  with  our 
consent  or  permission.  But  the  reason 
why  we  have  so  carefully  explained  and 
detailed  such  remedies  is  that  we  might 
bring  into  some  sort  of  agreement  the 
opinions  of  such  Doctors  as  Duns  Scotus 
and  Henry  of  Segusio  on  the  one  hand, 
and  those  of  the  other  Theologians  on 
the  other  hand.  Yet  we  are  in  agree¬ 
ment  with  S.  Augustine  in  his  Sermon 
against  Fortune-tellers  and  Diviners ,  which 
is  called  the  Sermon  on  Auguries  *  where 
he  says :  Brethren,  you  know  that  I  have 
often  entreated  you  that  you  should  not 
follow  the  customs  of  Pagans  and  sor¬ 
cerers,  but  this  has  had  little  effect  on 
some  of  you.  Yet,  if  I  do  not  speak  out 
to  you,  I  shall  be  answerable  for  you  in 
the  Day  of  Judgement,  and  both  you 
and  I  must  suffer  eternal  damnation. 
Therefore  I  absolve  myself  before  God, 
that  again  and  again  I  admonish  and 
adjure  you,  that  none  of  you  seek  out 
diviners  or  fortune-tellers,  and  that  you 
consult  with  them  for  no  cause  or 
infirmity ;  for  whosoever  commits  this 
sin,  the  sacrament  of  baptism  is  im¬ 
mediately  lost  in  him,  and  he  at  once 
becomes  a  sacrilegious  and  a  Pagan, 
and  unless  he  repents  will  perish  in 
eternity. 

And  afterwards  he  adds :  Let  no  one 
observe  days  for  going  out  and  coming 
back  *  for  God  hath  made  all  things 
well,  and  He  Who  ordained  one  day 

*  “Auguries.”  The  “De  Auguriis”  which  is 
often  ascribed  to  another  writer,  may  be  found  in 
the  Migne  S.  Augustine ,  Ap.  V,  2268. 


ordained  also  another.  But  as  often  as 
you  have  to  do  anything  or  to  go  out, 
cross  yourselves  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
and  saying  faithfully  the  Greed  or  the 
Lord’s  Prayer  you  may  go  about  your 
business  secure  in  the  help  of  God. 

But  certain  superstitious  sons  of  our 
times,  not  content  with  the  above 
securities  and  accumulating  error  upon 
error,  and  going  beyond  the  meaning  or 
intention  of  Scotus  and  the  Canonists, 
try  to  justify  themselves  with  the  follow¬ 
ing  arguments.  That  natural  objects 
have  certain  hidden  virtues  the  cause 
of  which  cannot  be  explained  by  men ; 
as  a  lodestone  attracts  iron,  and  many 
other  such  things  which  are  enumerated 
by  S.  Augustine  in  the  City  of  God,  xxi. 
Therefore,  they  say,  to  seek  for  the  re¬ 
covery  of  one’s  health  by  the  virtue  of 
such  things,  when  exorcisms  and  natural 
medicines  have  failed,  will  not  be  un¬ 
lawful,  although  it  may  seem  to  be  vain. 
This  would  be  the  case  if  a  man  tried 
to  procure  his  own  or  another’s  health 
by  means  of  images,  not  necromantic 
but  astrological,  or  by  rings  and  such 
devices.  They  argue  also  that,  just  as 
natural  matter  is  subject  to  the  influence 
of  the  stars,  so  also  are  artificial  objects 
such  as  images,  which  receive  some 
hidden  virtue  from  the  stars  by  which 
they  can  cause  certain  effects:  there¬ 
fore  it  is  not  unlawful  to  make  use  of 
such  things. 

Besides,  the  devils  can  in  very  many 
ways  change  bodies,  as  S.  Augustine 
says,  de  Trinitate ,  3,  and  as  is  evident 
in  the  case  of  those  who  are  bewitched : 
therefore  it  is  lawful  to  use  the  virtues 
of  such  bodies  for  the  removing  of 
witchcraft. 

But  actually  all  the  Holy  Doctors  are 
of  an  entirely  contrary  opinion  to  this, 
as  has  been  shown  here  and  there  in  the 
course  of  this  work. 

Therefore  we  can  answer  their  first 
argument  in  this  way:  that  if  natural 
objects  are  used  in  a  simple  way  to 
produce  certain  effects  for  which  they 
are  thought  to  have  some  natural 
virtue,  this  is  not  unlawful.  But  if  there 
are  joined  to  this  certain  characters 
and  unknown  signs  and  vain  observa¬ 
tions,  which  manifestly  cannot  have 
any  natural  efficacy,  then  it  is  super¬ 
stitious  and  unlawful.  Wherefore  S. 
Thomas,  II,  q.  96,  art.  2,  speaking  of 
this  matter,  says  that  when  any  object  is 
used  for  the  purpose  of  causing  some 
bodily  effect,  such  as  curing  the  sick, 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Gh.  7 


188 

notice  must  be  taken  whether  such 
objects  appear  to  have  any  natural 
quality  which  could  cause  such  an 
effect ;  and  if  so,  then  it  is  not  unlawful, 
since  it  is  lawful  to  apply  natural  causes 
to  their  effects.  But  if  it  does  not  appear 
that  they  can  naturally  cause  such 
effects,  it  follows  that  they  are  not 
applied  as  causes  of  those  effects,  but  as 
signs  or  symbols ;  and  so  they  pertain 
to  some  pact  symbolically  formed  with 
devils.  Also  S.  Augustine  says,  in  the 
City  of  God ,  xxi:  The  devils  ensnare  us 
by  means  of  creatures  formed  not  by 
themselves,  but  by  God,  and  with 
various  delights  consonant  with  their 
own  versatility  ;  not  as  animals  with 
food,  but  as  spirits  with  signs,  by  various 
kinds  of  stones  and  herbs  and  trees, 
animals  and  charms  and  ceremonies. 

Secondly,  S.  Thomas  says :  The 
natural  virtues  of  natural  objects  follow 
their  material  forms  which  they  obtain 
from  the  influence  of  the  stars,  and  from 
the  same  influence  they  derive  certain 
active  virtues.  But  the  forms  of  artifi¬ 
cial  objects  proceed  from  the  concep¬ 
tion  of  the  craftsman;  and  since,  as 
Aristotle  says  in  his  Physics ,  I,  they  are 
nothing  but  an  artificial  composition, 
they  can  have  no  natural  virtue  to 
cause  any  effect.  It  follows  then  that 
the  virtue  received  from  the  influence 
of  the  stars  can  only  reside  in  natural 
and  not  in  artificial  objects.  Therefore, 
as  S.  Augustine  says  in  the  City  of  God , 
x,  Porphyry  was  in  error  when  he 
thought  that  from  herbs  and  stones 
and  animals,  and  from  certain  sounds 
and  voices  and  figures,  and  from  cer¬ 
tain  configurations  in  the  revolutions 
of  the  stars  and  their  motions,  men 
fabricated  on  earth  certain  Powers 
corresponding  to  the  various  effects  >of 
the  stars ;  as  if  the  effects  of  magicians 
proceeded  from  the  virtue  of  the  stars. 
But,  as  S.  Augustine  adds,  all  such 
matters  belong  to  the  devils,  the  de¬ 
ceivers  of  souls  which  are  subject  to 
them.  So  also  are  those  images  which 
are  called  astronomical  the  work  of 
devils,  the  sign  of  which  is  that  they 
have  inscribed  upon  them  certain 
characters  which  can  have  no  natural 
power  to  effect  anything;  for  a  figure 
or  sign  is  no  cause  of  natural  action. 
But  there  is  this  difference  between  the 
images  of  astronomers  and  those  of 
necromancers;  that  in  the  case  of  the 
latter  there  is  an  open  invocation,  and 
therefore  an  open  and  expressed  pact 


with  devils ;  whereas  the  signs  and 
characters  on  astronomical  images 
imply  only  a  tacit  pact. 

Thirdly,  there  is  no  power  given  to 
men  over  devils,  whereby  a  man  may 
lawfully  use  them  for  his  own  purposes ; 
but  there  is  war  declared  between  man 
and  the  devils,  therefore  by  no  means 
may  he  use  the  help  of  devils,  by  either 
a  tacit  or  an  expressed  pact  with  them. 
So  says  S.  Thomas. 

To  return  to  the  point :  he  says,  “By 
no  means”;  therefore  not  even  by  means 
of  any  vain  things  in  which  the  devil 
may  in  any  way  be  involved.  But  if 
they  are  merely  vain,  and  man  in  his 
frailty  has  recourse  to  them  for  the 
recovery  of  his  health,  let  him  repent 
for  the  past  and  take  care  for  the  future, 
and  let  him  pray  that  his  sins  may  be 
forgiven  and  that  he  be  no  more  led 
into  temptation;  as  S.  Augustine  says 
at  the  end  of  his  Rule. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  VII 

Remedies  prescribed  against  Hailstorms ,  and 
for  Animals  that  are  Bewitched. 

WITH  regard  to  the  remedies  for 
bewitched  animals,  and  charms 
against  tempests,  we  must  first  note 
some  unlawful  remedies  which  are 
practised  by  certain  people.  For  these 
are  done  by  means  of  superstitious 
words  or  actions ;  as  when  men  cure  the 
worms  in  the  fingers  or  limbs  by  means 
of  certain  words  or  charms,*  the 
method  of  deciding  the  legality  of  which 
has  been  explained  in  the  preceding 
chapter.  There  are  others  who  do  not 
sprinkle  Holy  Water  over  bewitched 
cattle,  but  pour  it  into  their  mouths. 

Beside  the  proofs  we  have  already 
given  that  the  remedy  of  words  is  un¬ 
lawful,  William  of  Paris,  whom  we  have 
often  quoted,  gives  the  following  reason. 
If  there  were  any  virtue  in  words  as 
words,  then  it  would  be  due  to  one  of 
three  things:  either  their  material,  which 
is  air ;  or  their  form,  which  is  sound ; 
or  their  meaning;  or  else  to  all  three 

*  “Charms.”  Cf  Shirley’s  comedy  “The 
Sisters ,”  licensed  April  1642 ,  where  Antonio  says 
to  one  of  the  supposed  astrologers ,  III ,  1: 

“Tou  are  one  of  the  knaves  that  stroll  the 
country , 

And  live  by  picking  worms  out  of  fools’ 
fingers.” 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  7 


MALEFICARUM 


189 


together.  Now  it  cannot  be  due  to  air, 
which  has  no  power  to  kill  unless  it  be 
poisonous;  neither  can  it  be  due  to 
sound,  the  power  of  which  is  broken  by 
a  more  solid  object;  neither  can  it  be 
due  to  the  meaning,  for  in  that  case  the 
words  Devil  or  Death  or  Hell  would 
always  be  harmful,  and  the  words  Health 
and  Goodness  always  beneficial.  Also 
it  cannot  be  due  to  all  these  three  to¬ 
gether;  for  when  the  parts  of  a  whole  are 
invalid,  the  whole  itself  is  also  invalid. 

And  it  cannot  validly  be  objected  that 
God  gave  virtue  to  words  just  as  He 
did  to  herbs  and  stones.  For  whatever 
virtue  there  is  in  certain  sacramental 
words  and  benedictions  and  lawful 
incantations  belongs  to  them,  not  as 
words,  but  by  Divine  institution  and 
ordinance  according  to  God’s  promise. 
It  is,  as  it  were,  a  promise  from  God 
that  whoever  does  such  and  such  a 
thing  will  receive  such  and  such  a  grace. 
And  so  the  words  of  the  sacraments  are 
effective  because  of  their  meaning ; 
although  some  hold  that  they  have  an 
intrinsic  virtue ;  but  these  two  opinions 
are  not  mutually  inconsistent.  But  the 
case  of  other  words  and  incantations 
is  clear  from  what  has  already  been 
said ;  for  the  mere  composing  or  utter¬ 
ing  or  writing  of  words,  as  such,  can 
have  no  effect ;  but  the  invocation  of  the 
Divine  Name,  and  public  prayer,  which 
is  a  sacred  protestation  committing  the 
effect  to  the  Divine  Will,  are  beneficial. 

We  have  treated  above  of  remedies 
performed  by  actions  which  seem  to  be 
unlawful.  The  following  is  a  common 
practice  in  parts  of  Swabia.  On  the 
first  of  May  before  sunrise  the  women 
of  the  village  go  out  and  gather  from 
the  woods  leaves  and  branches  from 
willow  trees,  and  weave  them  into  a 
wreath  which  they  hang  over  the  stable 
door,  affirming  that  all  the  cattle  will 
then  remain  unhurt  and  safe  from 
witchcraft  for  a  whole  year.  And  in  the 
opinion  of  those  who  hold  that  vanity 
may  be  opposed  by  vanity,  this  remedy 
would  not  be  unlawful;  and  neither 
would  be  the  driving  away  of  diseases 
by  unknown  cantrips  and  incantations. 
But  without  meaning  any  offence,  we 
say  that  a  woman  or  anyone  else  may  go 
out  on  the  first  or  any  other  day  of  the 
month,  without  considering  the  rising 
or  the  setting  of  the  sun,  and  collect 
herbs  or  leaves  and  branches,  saying  the 
Lord’s  Prayer  or  the  Greed,  and  hang 
them  over  the  stable  door  in  good  faith, 


trusting  to  the  will  of  God  for  their  pro¬ 
tective  efficacy ;  yet  even  so  the  practice 
is  not  above  reproach,  as  was  shown  in 
the  preceding  chapter  in  the  words  of 
S.  Jerome;  for  even  if  he  is  not  invoked, 
the  devil  has  some  part  in  the  efficacy 
of  herbs  and  stones. 

It  is  the  same  with  those  who  make 
the  sign  of  the  Gross  with  leaves  and 
consecrated  flowers  on  Palm  Sunday, 
and  set  it  up  among  their  vines  or  crops ; 
asserting  that,  although  the  crops  all 
round  should  be  destroyed  by  hail,  yet 
they  will  remain  unharmed  in  their  own 
fields.  Such  matters  should  be  decided 
upon  according  to  the  distinction  of 
which  we  have  already  treated. 

Similarly  there  are  women  who,  for 
the  preservation  of  milk  and  that  cows 
should  not  be  deprived  of  their  milk  by 
witchcraft,  give  freely  to  the  poor  in 
God’s  name  the  whole  of  a  Sunday’s 
yield  of  milk ;  and  say  that,  by  this  sort 
of  alms,  the  cows  yield  even  more  milk 
and  are  preserved  from  witchcraft. 
This  need  not  be  regarded  as  super¬ 
stitious,  provided  that  it  is  done  out  of 
pity  for  the  poor,  and  that  they  implore 
the  Divine  mercy  for  the  protection  of 
their  cattle,  leaving  the  effect  to  the 
good  pleasure  of  Divine  providence. 

Again,  Nider  in  the  First  chapter  of 
his  Praceptorium  says  that  it  is  lawful 
to  bless  cattle,  in  the  same  way  as  sick 
men,  by  means  of  written  charms  and 
sacred  words,  even  if  they  have  the 
appearance  of  incantations,  as  long  as 
the  seven  conditions  we  have  mentioned 
are  observed.  For  he  says  that  devout 
persons  and  virgins  have  been  known 
to  sign  a  cow  with  the  sign  of  the  Gross, 
together  with  the  Lord’s  Praver  and 
the  Angelic  Salutation,  upon  which  the 
devil’s  work  has  been  driven  off,  if  it  is 
due  to  witchcraft. 

And  in  his  Formicarius  he  tells  that 
witches  confess  that  their  witchcraft  is 
obstructed  by  the  reverent  observation 
of  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church ;  as  by 
the  aspersion  of  Holy  Water,  or  the  con¬ 
sumption  of  consecrated  salt,  by  the 
lawful  use  of  candles  on  the  Day  of 
Purification  and  of  blessed  palms,  and 
such  things.  For  this  reason  the  Church 
uses  these  in  her  exorcisms,  that  they 
may  lessen  the  power  of  the  devil. 

Also,  because  when  witches  wish  to 
deprive  a  cow  of  milk  they  are  in  the 
habit  of  begging  a  little  of  the  milk  or 
butter  which  comes  from  that  cow,  so 
that  they  may  afterwards  by  their  art 


MALLEUS 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  7 


190 

bewitch  the  cow ;  therefore  women 
should  take  care,  when  they  are  asked 
by  persons  suspected  of  this  crime,  not 
to  give  away  the  least  thing  to  them. 

Again,  there  are  women  who,  when 
they  have  been  turning  a  churn  for  a 
long  while  to  no  purpose,  and  if  they 
suspect  that  this  is  due  to  some  witch, 
procure  if  possible  a  little  butter  from 
the  house  of  that  witch.  Then  they 
make  that  butter  into  three  pieces  and 
throw  them  into  the  churn,  invoking 
the  Holy  Trinity,  the  Father,  the  Son, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  so  all  witch¬ 
craft  is  put  to  flight.  Here  again  it  is  a 
case  of  opposing  vanity  to  vanity,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  the  butter  must  be 
borrowed  from  the  suspected  witch. 
But  if  it  were  done  without  this ;  if  with 
the  invocation  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and 
the  Lord’s  Prayer  the  woman  were  to 
throw  in  three  pieces  of  her  own  butter, 
or  of  that  belonging  to  someone  else 
if  she  have  none  of  her  own,  and  were  to 
commit  the  effect  to  the  Divine  Will, 
she  would  remain  beyond  reproach. 
Nevertheless  it  is  not  a  commendable 
practice  to  throw  in  the  three  pieces  of 
butter ;  for  it  would  be  better  to  banish 
the  witchcraft  by  means  of  sprinkling 
Holy  Water  or  putting  in  some  exorcised 
salt,  always  with  the  prayers  we  have 
mentioned. 

Again,  since  often  the  whole  of  a 
person’s  cattle  are  destroyed  by  witch¬ 
craft,  those  who  have  suffered  in  this 
way  ought  to  take  care  to  remove  the 
soil  under  the  threshold  of  the  stable  or 
stall,  and  where  the  cattle  go  to  water, 
and  replace  it  with  fresh  soil  sprinkled 
with  Holy  Water.  For  witches  have 
often  confessed  that  they  have  placed 
some  instrument  of  witchcraft  in  such 
places ;  and  that  sometimes,  at  the 
instance  of  devils,  they  have  only  had 
to  make  a  hole  in  which  the  devil  has 
placed  the  instrument  of  witchcraft; 
and  that  this  was  a  visible  object,  such 
as  a  stone  or  a  piece  of  wood  or  a  mouse 
or  some  serpent.  For  it  is  agreed  that 
the  devil  can  perform  such  things  by 
himself  without  the  need  of  any  partner ; 
but  usually,  for  the  perdition  of  her  soul, 
he  compels  a  witch  to  co-operate  with 
him.  - 

In  addition  to  the  setting  up  of  the 
sign  of  the  Cross  which  we  have  men¬ 
tioned,  the  following  procedure  is 
practised  against  hailstorms  and  tem¬ 
pests.  Three  of  the  hailstones  are 
thrown  into  the  fire  with  an  invocation 


of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity,  and  the 
Lord’s  Prayer  and  the  Angelic  Saluta¬ 
tion  are  repeated  twice  or  three  times, 
together  with  the  Gospel  of  S.  John, 
In  the  beginning  was  the  Word.  And  the 
sign  of  the  Gross  is  made  in  every  direc¬ 
tion  towards  each  quarter  of  the  world. 
Finally,  The  Word  was  made  Flesh  is 
repeated  three  times,  and  three  times, 
“By  the  words  of  this  Gospel  may  this 
tempest  be  dispersed.”  And  suddenly, 
if  the  tempest  is  due  to  witchcraft,  it 
will  cease.  This  is  most  true  and  need 
not  be  regarded  with  any  suspicion. 
For  if  the  hailstones  were  thrown  into 
the  fire  without  the  invocation  of  the 
Divine  Name,  then  it  would  be  con¬ 
sidered  superstitious. 

But  it  may  be  asked  whether  the 
tempest  could  not  be  stilled  without 
the  use  of  those  hailstones.  We  answer 
that  it  is  the  other  sacred  words  that  are 
chiefly  effective ;  but  by  throwing  in  the 
hailstones  a  man  means  to  torment  the 
devil,  and  tries  to  destroy  his  works  by 
the  invocation  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 
And  he  throws  them  into  the  fire  rather 
than  into  water,  because  the  more 
quickly  they  are  dissolved  the  sooner 
is  the  devil’s  work  destroyed.  But  he 
must  commit  to  the  Divine  Will  the 
effect  which  is  hoped  for. 

Relevant  to  this  is  the  reply  given  by 
a  witch  to  a  Judge  who  asked  her  if 
there  were  any  means  of  stilling  a  tem¬ 
pest  raised  by  witchcraft.  She  answered: 
Yes,  by  this  means.  I  adjure  you,  hail¬ 
storms  and  winds,  by  the  five  wounds  of 
Christ,  and  by  the  three  nails  which 
pierced  His  hands  and  feet,  and  by  the 
four  Holy  Evangelists,  Matthew,  Mark, 
Luke  and  John,  that  you  be  dissolved 
and  fall  as  rain. 

Many  also  confess,  some  freely  and 
some  under  stress  of  torture,  that  there 
are  five  things  by  which  they  are  much 
hindered,  sometimes  entirely,  some¬ 
times  in  part,  sometimes  so  that  they 
cannot  harm  a  certain  man  himself,  and 
sometimes  so  that  they  cannot  harm  his 
friends.  And  these  are,  that  a  man 
should  have  a  pure  faith  and  keep  the 
commandments  of  God  ;  that  he  should 
protect  himself  with  the  sign  of  the 
Cross  and  with  prayer ;  that  he  should 
reverence  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of 
the  Church ;  that  he  should  be  diligent 
in  the  performance  of  public  justice ; 
and  that  he  should  meditate  aloud  or  in 
his  heart  on  the  Passion  of  Christ.  And 
of  these  things  Nider  also  speaks.  And 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  7 


MALEFICARUM 


191 


for  this  reason  it  is  a  general  practice 
of  the  Church  to  ring  bells  as  a  protec¬ 
tion  against  storms,  both  that  the  devils 
may  flee  from  them  as  being  consecrated 
to  God  and  refrain  from  their  wicked¬ 
ness,  and  also  that  the  people  may  be 
roused  up  to  invoke  God  against  tem¬ 
pests.  And  for  the  same  reason  it  is 
common  to  proceed  against  tempests 
with  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar  and 
sacred  words,  following  the  very  ancient 
custom  of  the  Church  in  France  and 
Germany. 

But  since  this  method  of  carrying  out 
the  Sacrament  to  still  a  storm  seems  to 
many  a  little  superstitious,  because 
they  do  not  understand  the  rules  by 
which  it  is  possible  to  distinguish  be¬ 
tween  that  which  is  superstitious  and 
that  which  is  not ;  therefore  it  must  be 
considered  that  five  rules  are  given  by 
which  anyone  may  know  whether  an 
action  is  superstitious,  that  is,  outside 
the  observances  of  the  Christian  reli¬ 
gion,  or  whether  it  is  in  accordance  with 
the  due  and  proper  worship  and  honour 
of  God,  proceeding  from  the  true 
virtue  of  religion  both  in  the  thoughts 
of  the  heart  and  in  the  actions  of  the 
body.  For  these  are  explained  in  the 
gloss  on  Colossians  ii,  where  S.  Paul 
says :  Which  things  have  a  show  of  wis¬ 
dom  in  superstition;  and  the  gloss  says: 
Superstition  is  religion  observed  with¬ 
out  due  discipline ;  as  was  said  before. 

The  first  of  these  is,  that  in  all  our 
works  the  glory  of  God  ought  to  be  our 
chief  aim ;  as  it  is  said :  Whether  ye  eat 
or  drink,  or  whatsoever  else  ye  do,  do 
all  in  the  glory  of  God.*  Therefore  in 
every  work  relating  to  the  Christian 
religion  let  care  be  taken  that  it  is  to 
the  glory  of  God,  and  that  in  it  man 
should  give  the  glory  chiefly  to  God,  so 
that  by  that  very  work  the  mind  of  man 
may  be  put  in  subjection  to  God. 
And  although,  according  to  this  rule, 
the  ceremonies  and  legal  procedures 
of  the  Old  Testament  are  not  now 
observed,  since  they  are  to  be  under¬ 
stood  figuratively,  whereas  the  truth 
is  made  known  in  the  New  Testament, 
yet  the  carrying  out  of  the  Sacrament 
or  of  Relics  to  still  a  storm  does  not  seem 
to  militate  against  this  rule. 

The  second  rule  is  that  care  should 
be  taken  that  the  work  is  a  discipline 
to  restrain  concupiscence,  or  a  bodily 
abstinence,  but  in  the  way  that  is  owed 

*  “ Glory  of  God”  Corinthians”  x ,  31. 


to  virtue,  that  is,  according  to  the  rites 
of  the  Church  and  moral  doctrine.  For 
S.  Paul  says,  Romans  xii :  Let  your  service 
be  reasonable.  And  because  of  this  rule, 
they  are  foolish  who  make  a  vow  not  to 
comb  their  hair  on  the  Sabbath,  or  who 
fast  on  Sunday,  saying,  The  better  the 
day  the  better  the  deed,  and  such  like. 
But  again  it  does  not  seem  that  it  is 
superstitious  to  carry  out  the  Sacra¬ 
ment,  etc. 

The  third  rule  is  to  be  sure  that  what 
is  done  is  in  accordance  with  the  statutes 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  or  with  the 
witness  of  Holy  Scripture,  or  according 
at  least  to  the  rites  of  some  particular 
Church,  or  in  accordance  with  universal 
use,  which  S.  Augustine  says  may  be 
taken  as  a  law.  Accordingly  when  the 
Bishops  of  the  English  were  in  doubt 
because  the  Mass  was  celebrated  in 
different  manners  in  different  Churches, 
S.  Gregory  wrote  to  them  that  they  might 
use  whatever  methods  they  found  most 
pleasing  to  God,  whether  they  followed 
the  rites  of  the  Roman  or  of  the  Gallican 
or  of  any  other  Church.  For  the  fact 
that  different  Churches  have  different 
methods  in  Divine  worship  does  not 
militate  against  the  truth,  and  therefore 
such  customs  are  to  be  preserved,  and 
it  is  unlawful  to  neglect  them.  And  so, 
as  we  said  in  the  beginning,  it  is  a  very 
ancient  custom  in  the  Churches  of 
France  and  some  parts  of  Germany, 
after  the  consecration  of  the  Eucharist 
to  carry  It  out  into  the  open;  and  this 
cannot  be  unlawful,  provided  that  It 
is  not  carried  exposed  to  the  air,  but 
enclosed  and  contained  in  a  Pyx. 

The  fourth  rule  is  to  take  care  that 
what  is  done  bears  some  natural  rela¬ 
tion  to  the  effect  which  is  expected ; 
for  if  it  does  not,  it  is  judged  to  be 
superstitious.  On  this  account  unknown 
characters  and  suspected  names,  and 
the  images  or  charts  of  necromancers 
and  astronomers,  are  altogether  to  be 
condemned  as  suspect.  But  we  cannot 
say  that  on  this  account  it  is  super¬ 
stitious  to  carry  out  Holy  Relics  or  the 
Eucharist  as  a  protection  against  the 
plagues  of  the  devil;  for  it  is  rather  a 
most  religious  and  salutary  practice, 
since  in  that  Sacrament  lies  all  our  help 
against  the  Adversary. 

The  fifth  rule  is  to  be  careful  that  what 
is  done  should  give  no  occasion  for 
scandal  or  stumbling ;  for  in  that  case, 
although  it  be  not  superstitious,  yet 
because  of  the  scandal  it  should  be 


MALLEUS  Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  8 


forgone  or  postponed,  or  done  secretly 
without  scandal.  Therefore  if  this  carry¬ 
ing  of  the  Sacrament  can  be  done  with¬ 
out  scandal,  or  even  secretly,  then  it 
should  not  be  neglected.  For  by  this 
rule  many  secular  priests  neglect  the 
use  of  benedictions  by  means  of  devout 
words  either  uttered  over  the  sick  or 
bound  round  their  necks.  I  say  that 
nothing  should  be  done,  at  least  pub¬ 
licly,  if  it  can  give  any  occasion  of 
stumbling  to  other  simple  folk. 

Let  this  be  enough  on  the  subject 
of  the  remedies  against  hailstorms,  either 
by  words  or  lawful  actions. 

☆ 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Certain  Remedies  prescribed  against  those 
Dark  and  Horrid  Harms  with  which 
Devils  may  Afflict  Men. 

YET  again  we  reserve  our  judge¬ 
ment  in  discussing  the  remedies 
against  certain  injuries  to  the  fruits  of 
the  earth,  which  are  caused  by  canker- 
worms,  or  by  huge  flights  of  locusts 
and  other  insects  which  cover  vast  areas 
of  land,  and  seem  to  hide  the  surface 
of  the  ground,  eating  up  everything  to 
the  very  roots  in  the  vineyards  and 
devouring  fields  of  ripe  crops.  In  the 
same  light  too  we  consider  the  remedies 
against  the  stealing  of  children  by  the 
work  of  devils. 

But  with  regard  to  the  former  kind  of 
injury  we  may  quote  S.  Thomas,  the 
Second  of  the  Second ,  Question  90,  where 
he  asks  whether  it  is  lawful  to  adjure 
an  irrational  creature.  He  answers  that 
it  is ;  but  only  in  the  way  of  compulsion, 
by  which  it  is  sent  back  to  the  devil, 
who  uses  irrational  creatures  to  harm 
us.  And  such  is  the  method  of  adjura¬ 
tion  in  the  exorcisms  of  the  Church 
by  which  the  power  of  the  devil  is  kept 
away  from  irrational  creatures.  But  if 
the  adjuration  is  addressed  to  the  irra¬ 
tional  creature  itself,  which  under¬ 
stands  nothing,  then  it  would  be  nuga¬ 
tory  and  vain.  From  this  it  can  be 
understood  that  they  can  be  driven  off 
by  lawful  exorcisms  and  adjurations, 
the  help  of  the  Divine  mercy  being 
granted ;  but  first  the  people  should  be 
bidden  to  fast  and  to  go  in  procession 
and  practise  other  devotions.  For  this 
sort  of  evil  is  sent  on  account  of  adul¬ 
teries  and  the  multiplication  of  crimes ; 


wherefore  men  must  be  urged  to  con¬ 
fess  their  sins. 

In  some  provinces  even  solemn  ex- 
communications  are  pronounced;  but 
then  they  obtain  power  of  adjuration 
over  devils. 

Another  terrible  thing  which  God 
permits  to  happen  to  men  is  when  their 
own  children  are  taken  away  from 
women,  and  strange  children  are  put 
in  their  place  by  devils.  And  these 
children,  which  are  commonly  called 
changelings,  or  in  the  German  tongue 
Wechselkinder,  are  of  three  kinds.  For 
some  are  always  ailing  and  crying,  and 
yet  the  milk  of  four  women  is  not  enough 
to  satisfy  them.  Some  are  generated  by 
the  operation  of  Incubus  devils,  of 
whom,  however,  they  are  not  the  sons, 
but  of  that  man  from  whom  the  devil 
has  received  the  semen  as  a  Succubus, 
or  whose  semen  he  has  collected  from 
some  nocturnal  pollution  in  sleep.  For 
these  children  are  sometimes,  by  Divine 
permission,  substituted  for  the  real 
children. 

And  there  is  a  third  kind,  when  the 
devils  at  times  appear  in  the  form  of 
young  children  and  attach  themselves 
to  the  nurses.  But  all  three  kinds  have 
this  in  common,  that  though  they  are 
very  heavy,  they  are  always  ailing  and 
do  not  grow,  and  cannot  receive  enough 
milk  to  satisfy  them,  and  are  often 
reported  to  have  vanished  away. 

And  it  can  be  said  that  the  Divine 
pity  permits  such  things  for  two  reasons. 
First,  when  the  parents  dote  upon  their 
children  too  much,  and  this  is  a  punish¬ 
ment  for  their  own  good.  Secondly,  it  is 
to  be  presumed  that  the  women  to 
whom  such  things  happen  are  very 
superstitious,  and  are  in  many  other 
ways  seduced  by  devils.  But  God  is 
truly  jealous  in  the  right  sense  of  the 
word,  which  means  a  strong  love  for  a 
man’s  own  wife,  which  not  only  does 
not  allow  another  man  to  approach  her, 
but  like  a  jealous  husband  will  not  suffer 
the  hint  or  suspicion  of  adultery.  In 
the  same  way  is  God  jealous  of  the  soul 
which  He  bought  with  His  Precious 
Blood  and  espoused  in  the  Faith;  and 
cannot  suffer  it  to  be  touched  by,  to 
converse  with,  or  in  any  way  to  approach 
or  have  dealings  with  the  devil,  the 
enemy  and  adversary  of  salvation.  And 
if  a  jealous  husband  cannot  suffer  even 
a  hint  of  adultery,  how  much  more 
will  he  be  disturbed  when  adultery  is 
actually  committed !  Therefore  it  is  no 


Part  II.  Qn  2.  Ch.  8 


MALEFICARUM 


193 


wonder  if  their  own  children  are  taken 
away  and  adulterous  children  sub¬ 
stituted. 

And  indeed  that  it  may  be  more 
strongly  impressed  how  God  is  jealous 
of  the  soul,  and  will  not  suffer  anything 
which  might  cause  a  suspicion,  it  is 
shown  in  the  Old  Law  where,  that  He 
might  drive  His  people  farther  from 
idolatry,  He  not  only  forbade  idolatry, 
but  also  many  other  things  which  might 
give  occasion  to  idolatry,  and  seemed  to 
have  no  use  in  themselves,  although  in 
some  marvellous  way  they  retain  some 
use  in  a  mystical  sense.  For  He  not  only 
says  in  Exodus  xxii:  Thou  shalt  not 
suffer  a  witch  to  live  on  the  earth ;  but 
He  adds  this :  She  shall  not  dwell  in  thy 
land,  lest  perchance  she  cause  thee 
to  sin.  Similarly  common  bawds  and 

y  bulkers  are  put  to  death,  and  not 
allowed  to  company  with  men. 

Note  the  jealousy  of  God,  Who  says 
as  follows  in  Deuteronomy  xxii:  If  thou 
find  a  bird’s  nest,  and  the  dam  sitting 
upon  the  eggs  or  upon  the  young  ones, 
thou  shalt  not  take  the  dam  with  the 
young,  but  thou  shalt  let  the  dam  fly 
away;  because  the  Gentiles  used  these 
to  procure  sterility.  The  jealous  God 
would  not  suffer  in  His  people  this  sign 
of  adultery.  In  like  manner  in  our  days 
when  old  women  find  a  penny,  they 
think  it  a  sign  of  great  fortune;  and 
conversely,  when  they  dream  of  money 
it  is  an  unlucky  sign.  Also  God  taught 
that  all  vessels  should  be  covered,  and 
that  when  a  vessel  had  no  cover  it 
should  be  considered  unclean. 

There  was  an  erroneous  belief  that 
when  devils  came  in  the  night  (or  the 
Good  People  *  as  old  women  call  them, 
though  they  are  witches,  or  devils  in 
their  forms)  they  must  eat  up  everything, 
that  afterwards  they  may  bring  greater 
abundance  of  stores.  Some  people  give 
colour  to  the  story,  and  call  them 
Screech  Owls;  but  this  is  against  the 
opinion  of  the  Doctors,  who  say  that 


*  “ Good  People So  in  Ireland  the  fairies 
are  called  “ good  people ,”  and  traditionally  seem 
to  be  of  a  benevolent  but  capricious  and  even 
mischievous  disposition.  In  some  parts  of  High¬ 
land  Scotland  fairies  are  called  “daoine  sithe ”  or 

(“men  of  peace ,”  and  it  is  believed  that  every  year 
the  devil  carries  off  a  tenth  part  of  them. 

It  will  be  readily  remembered  that  to  the 
Greeks  the  Fairies  were  cd  Eu(xsv£8e<;,  the 
gracious  goddesses. 


there  are  no  rational  creatures  except 
men  and  Angels;  therefore  they  can 
only  be  devils. 

Again,  in  Leviticus  xix:  Ye  shall  not 
round  the  comers  of  your  heads,  neither 
shalt  thou  mar  the  corners  of  thy 
beard ;  because  they  did  this  idolatrously 
in  veneration  of  idols. 

Again  in  Deuteronomy  xxii:  God  says 
that  men  shall  not  put  on  the  garments 
of  women,  or  conversely;  because  they 
did  this  in  honour  of  the  goddess  Venus, 
and  others  in  honour  of  Mars  or  Priapus.  I 

And  for  the  same  reason  He  com¬ 
manded  the  altars  of  idols  to  be  de¬ 
stroyed;  and  Hezechias  destroyed  the 
Brazen  Serpent  when  the  people  wanted 
to  sacrifice  to  it,  saying:  It  is  brass. 
For  the  same  reason  He  forbade  the 
observance  of  visions  and  auguries,  and 
commanded  that  the  man  or  woman  in 
whom  there  was  a  familiar  spirit  should 
be  put  to  death.  Such  are  now  called 
soothsayers.  All  these  things,  because 
they  give  rise  to  suspicion  of  spiritual 
adultery,  therefore,  as  has  been  said, 
from  the  jealousy  which  God  has  for 
the  souls  He  has  espoused,  as  a  husband 
espouses  a  wife,  they  were  all  forbidden 
by  Him. 

And  so  we  preachers  also  ought  to 
bear  in  mind  that  no  sacrifice  is  more 
acceptable  to  God  than  a  jealousy  of 
souls,  as  S.  Jerome  says  in  his  com¬ 
mentaries  upon  Ezekiel. 

Therefore  in  the  Third  Part  of  this 
work  we  shall  treat  of  the  extermination 
of  witches,  which  is  the  ultimate  remedy. 
For  this  is  the  last  recourse  of  the 
Church,  to  which  she  is  bound  by  Divine 
commandment.  For  it  has  been  said: 
Ye  shall  not  suffer  witches  to  live  upon 
the  earth.  And  with  this  will  be  in¬ 
cluded  the  remedies  against  archer- 
wizards;  since  this  kind  can  only  be 
exterminated  by  secular  law. 

A  remedy.  When  certain  persons  for 
the  sake  of  temporal  gain  have  devoted 
themselves  entirely  to  the  devil,  it  has 
often  been  found  that,  though  they  may 
be  freed  from  the  devil’s  power  by  true 
confession,  yet  they  have  been  long  and 
grievously  tormented,  especially  in  the 
night.  And  God  allows  this  for  their 
punishment.  But  a  sign  that  they  have 
been  delivered  is  that,  after  confession, 
all  the  money  in  their  purses  or  coffers 
vanishes.  Many  examples  of  this  could 
be  adduced,  but  for  the  sake  of  brevity 
they  are  passed  over  and  omitted. 


THE  THIRD  PART 
RELATING  TO  THE 
JUDICIAL  PROCEEDINGS  IN 
BOTH  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 
AND  CIVIL  COURTS 
AGAINST  WITCHES  AND 
INDEED  ALL  HERETICS 

CONTAINING  XXXV  QUESTIONS  IN 
WHICH  IS  MOST  CLEARLY  SET  OUT  THE 
FORMAL  RULES  FOR  INITIATING  A 
PROCESS  OF  JUSTICE,  HOW  IT  SHOULD 
BE  CONDUCTED,  AND  THE  METHOD  OF 
PRONOUNCING  SENTENCE 

☆ 

GENERAL 

& 

INTRODUCTORY 

Who  are  the  Fit  and  Proper  Judges  in  the 
Trial  of  Witches? 

THE  question  is  whether  witches, 
together  with  their  patrons  and 
protectors  and  defenders,  are  so 
entirely  subject  to  the  jurisdic¬ 
tion  of  the  Diocesan  Ecclesiastical  Court 
and  the  Civil  Court  so  that  the  Inquisi¬ 
tors  of  the  crime  of  heresy  can  be  alto¬ 
gether  relieved  from  the  duty  of  sitting  in 
judgement  upon  them.  And  it  is  argued 
that  this  is  so.  For  the  Canon  (c.  accu¬ 
satus,  §  sane,  lib. VI)  says :  Certainly  those 
whose  high  privilege  it  is  to  judge  con¬ 
cerning  matters  of  the  faith  ought  not  to 
be  distracted  by  other  business;  and 
Inquisitors  deputed  by  the  Apostolic 
See  to  inquire  into  the  pest  of  heresy 
should  manifestly  not  have  to  concern 
themselves  with  diviners  and  sooth¬ 
sayers,  unless  these  are  also  heretics,  nor 
should  it  be  their  business  to  punish 
such,  but  they  may  leave  them  to  be 
punished  by  their  own  judges. 

Nor  does  there  seem  any  difficulty  in 
the  fact  that  the  heresy  of  witches  is  not 
mentioned  in  that  Canon.  For  these 
are  subject  to  the  same  punishment  as 
the  others  in  the  court  of  conscience,  as 
the  Canon  goes  on  to  say  (dist.  i,  pro 
dilectione ).  If  the  sin  of  diviners  and 
witches  is  secret,  a  penance  of  forty  days 
shall  be  imposed  upon  them :  if  it  is 
notorious,  they  shall  be  refused  the 
Eucharist.  And  those  whose  punish¬ 
ment  is  identical  should  receive  it  from 
the  same  Court.  Then,  again,  the  guilt 
of  both  being  the  same,  since  just  as 


soothsayers  obtain  their  results  by 
curious  means,  so  do  witches  look  for 
and  obtain  from  the  devil  the  injuries 
which  they  do  to  creatures,  unlawfully 
seeking  from  His  creatures  that  which 
should  be  sought  from  God  alone ; 
therefore  both  are  guilty  of  the  sin  of 
idolatry. 

This  is  the  sense  of  Ezechiel  xxi,  23 ; 
that  the  King  of  Babylon  stood  at  the 
cross-roads,  snuffling  his  arrows  *  and 
interrogating  idols. 

Again  it  may  be  said  that,  when  the 
Canon  says  “Unless  these  are  also  here¬ 
tics,”  it  allows  that  some  diviners  and 
soothsayers  are  heretics,  and  should 
therefore  be  subject  to  trial  by  the  In¬ 
quisitors  ;  but  in  that  case  artificial 
diviners  would  also  be  so  subject,  and 
no  written  authority  for  that  can  be 
found. 

Again,  if  witches  are  to  be  tried  by 
the  InquisitdTS,  it  must  be  for  the  crime 
of  heresy ;  but  it  is  clear  that  the  deeds 
of  witches  can  be  committed  without 
any  heresy.  For  when  they  stamp  into 
the  mud  the  Body  of  Christ,  although 
this  is  a  most  horrible  crime,  yet  it  may 
be  done  without  any  error  iii  the 
understanding,  and  therefore  without 
heresy.  For  it  is  entirely  possible  for  a 


*  “ Arrows .”  Esarhaddon  is  employing  a 
mode  of  sortilege  by  arrows,  belomancy,  which 
was  extensively  practised  among  the  Chaldeans, 
as  also  among  the  Arabs.  Upon  this  text  S. 
Jerome  comments:  “He  shall  stand  in  the  high¬ 
way,  and  consult  the  oracle  after  the  manner  of 
his  nation,  that  he  may  cast  arrows  into  a  quiver, 
and  mix  them  together,  being  written  upon  or 
marked  with  the  names  of  each  people,  that  he 
may  see  whose  arrow  will  come  forth,  and  which 
city  he  ought  first  to  attack .”  The  arrows 
employed  by  the  Arabs  were  often  three  in  number, 
upon  the  first  of  which  was  inscribed,  “My  Lord 
hath  commanded  me”;  upon  the  second,  “My 
Lord  hath  forbidden  me” ;  and  the  third  was 
blank.  If  the  inquirer  drew  the  first  it  was  an 
augury  of  success;  the  second  gave  an  omen  of 
failure;  if  the  third  were  drawn,  all  three  were 
mixed  again  and  another  trial  was  made.  In 
some  countries  divining  rods  were  employed 
instead  of  arrows.  These  were  drawn  from  a 
vessel,  or,  it  might  be,  cast  into  the  air,  the 
position  in  which  they  fell  being  carefully  noted. 
This  practice  is  rhabdomancy.  The  LXX, 
Ezechiel ”  xxi,  21,  reads  pa^Sopiavrsla,  not 
3eXo|i.ayrs(a,  and  rhabdomancy  is  mentioned  by 
S.  Cyril  of  Alexandria.  The  “Koran,”  V,  for¬ 
bids  prognostication  by  divining  arrows,  which 
are  there  denounced  as  “an  abomination  of  the 
work  of  Satan.”  See  my  “History  of  Witch¬ 
craft,”  Chap.  V,  pp.  182-83. 


Part  III. 


195 


person  to  believe  that  It  is  the  Lord’s 
Body,  and  yet  throw  It  into  the  mud  to 
satisfy  the  devil,  and  this  by  reason  of 
some  pact  with  him,  that  he  may 
obtain  some  desired  end,  such  as  the 
finding  of  a  treasure  or  anything  of  that 
sort.  Therefore  the  deeds  of  witches 
need  involve  no  error  in  faith,  however 
great  the  sin  may  be;  in  which  case 
they  are  not  liable  to  the  Court  of  the 
Inquisition,  but  are  left  to  their  own 
judges. 

Again,  Solomon  showed  reverence  to 
the  gods  of  his  wives  out  of  com¬ 
plaisance,  and  was  not  on  that  account 
guilty  of  apostasy  from  the  Faith ;  for  in 
his  heart  he  was  faithful  and  kept  the 
true  Faith.  So  also  when  witches  give 
homage  to  devils  by  reason  of  the  pact 
they  have  entered  into,  but  keep  the 
Faith  in  their  hearts,  they  are  not  on 
that  account  to  be  reckoned  as  heretics. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  all  witches 
have  to  deny  the  Faith,  and  therefore 
must  be  judged  heretics.  On  the  con¬ 
trary,  even  if  they  were  to  deny  the 
Faith  in  their  hearts  and  minds,  still  they 
could  not  be  reckoned  as  heretics,  but 
as  apostates.  But  a  heretic  is  different 
from  an  apostate,  and  it  is  heretics  who 
are  subject  to  the  Court  of  the  In¬ 
quisition;  therefore  witches  are  not  so 
subject. 

Again  it  is  said,  in  c.  26,  quest.  5 :  Let 
the  Bishops  and  their  representatives 
strive  by  every  means  to  rid  their 
parishes  entirely  of  the  pernicious  art  of 
soothsaying  and  magic  derived  from 
Zoroaster ;  and  if  they  find  any  man  or 
woman  addicted  to  this  crime,  let  him 
be  shamefully  cast  out  of  their  parishes 
in  disgrace.  So  when  it  says  at  the  end 
of  c.  348,  Let  them  leave  them  to  their 
own  Judges ;  and  since  it  speaks  in  the 
plural,  both  of  the  Ecclesiastic  and  the 
Civil  Court ;  therefore,  according  to  this 
Canon  they  are  subject  to  no  more  than 
the  Diocesan  Court. 

But  if,  just  as  these  arguments  seem 
to  show  it  to  be  reasonable  in  the  case 
of  Inquisitors,  the  Diocesans  also  wish 
to  be  relieved  of  this  responsibility,  and 
to  leave  the  punishment  of  witches  to 
the  secular  Courts,  such  a  claim  could 
be  made  good  by  the  following  argu¬ 
ments.  For  the  Canon  says,  c.  ut  in¬ 
quisitionis:  We  strictly  forbid  the  tem¬ 
poral  lords  and  rulers  and  their  officers 
in  any  way  to  try  or  judge  this  crime, 
since  it  is  purely  an  ecclesiastical  mat¬ 
ter  :  and  it  speaks  of  the  crime  of 


heresy.  It  follows  therefore  that,  when 
the  crime  is  not  purely  ecclesiastical,  as 
is  the  case  with  witches  because  of  the 
temporal  injuries  which  they  commit,  it 
must  be  punished  by  the  Civil  and  not 
by  the  Ecclesiastical  Court. 

Besides,  in  the  last  Canon  Law  con¬ 
cerning  Jews  it  says :  His  goods  are  to 
be  confiscated,  and  he  is  to  be  con¬ 
demned  to  death,  because  with  per¬ 
verse  doctrine  he  opposed  the  Faith  of 
Christ.  But  if  it  is  said  that  this  law 
refers  to  Jews  who  have  been  converted, 
and  have  afterwards  returned  to  the 
worship  of  the  Jews,  this  is  not  a  valid 
objection.  Rather  is  the  argument 
strengthened  by  it;  because  the  civil 
Judge  has  to  punish  such  Jews  as 
apostates  from  the  Faith ;  and  therefore 
witches  who  abjure  the  Faith  ought  to 
be  treated  in  the  same  way ;  for  abjura¬ 
tion  of  the  Faith,  either  wholly  or  in 
part,  is  the  essential  principle  of  witches. 

And  although  it  says  that  apostasy 
and  heresy  are  to  be  judged  in  the 
same  way,  yet  it  is  not  the  part  of  the 
ecclesiastical  but  of  the  civil  Judge  to 
concern  himself  with  witches.  For  no 
one  must  cause  a  commotion  among 
the  people  by  reason  of  a  trial  for 
heresy ;  but  the  Governor  himself  must 
make  provision  for  such  cases. 

The  Authentics  of  Justinian,  speaking 
of  ruling  princes,  says :  You  shall 
not  permit  anyone  to  stir  up  your 
Province  by  reason  of  a  judicial  in¬ 
quiry  into  matters  concerning  religions 
or  heresies,  or  in  any  way  allow  an  in¬ 
junction  to  be  put  upon  the  Province 
over  which  you  govern;  but  you  shall 
yourself  provide,  making  use  of  such 
monies  and  other  means  of  investi¬ 
gation  as  are  competent,  and  not  allow 
anything  to  be  done  in  matters  of 
religion  except  in  accordance  with  our 
precepts.  It  is  clear  from  this  that  no 
one  must  meddle  with  a  rebellion 
against  the  Faith  except  the  Governor 
himself. 

Besides,  if  the  trial  and  punishment 
of  such  witches  were  not  entirely  a  | 
matter  for  the  civil  Judge,  what  would 
be  the  purpose  of  the  laws  which  pro¬ 
vide  as  follows?  All  those  who  are 
commonly  called  witches  are  to  be 
condemned  to  death.  And  again : 
Those  who  harm  innocent  lives  by 
magic  arts  are  to  be  thrown  to  the 
beasts.  Again,  it  is  laid  down  that  they 
are  to  be  subjected  to  questions  and 
tortures;  and  that  none  of  the  faithful 


i  g6 


MALLEUS 


Part  III. 


arc  to  associate  with  them,  under  pain 
of  exile  and  the  confiscation  of  all  their 
goods.  And  many  other  penalties  are 
added,  which  anyone  may  read  in 
those  laws. 

But  in  contradiction  of  all  these 
arguments,  the  truth  of  the  matter  is 
that  such  witches  may  be  tried  and 
punished  conjointly  by  the  Civil  and 
the  Ecclesiastical  Courts.  For  a  canon¬ 
ical  crime  must  be  tried  by  the  Gover¬ 
nor  and  the  Metropolitan  of  the 
Province ;  not  by  the  Metropolitan 
alone,  but  together  with  the  Gover¬ 
nor.  This  is  clear  in  the  Authentics , 
where  ruling  princes  are  enjoined  as 
follows:  If  it  is  a  canonical  matter 
which  is  to  be  tried,  you  shall  inquire 
into  it  together  with  the  Metropolitan 
of  the  Province.  And  to  remove  all 
doubt  on  this  subject,  the  gloss  says :  If 
it  is  a  simple  matter  of  the  observance 
of  the  faith,  the  Governor  alone  may 
try  it ;  but  if  the  matter  is  more  com- 

Elicated,  then  it  must  be  tried  by  a 
ishop  and  the  Governor ;  and  the 
matter  must  be  kept  within  decent 
limits  by  someone  who  has  found 
favour  with  God,  who  shall  protect  the 
orthodox  faith,  and  impose  suitable 
indemnities  of  money,  and  keep  our 
subjects  inviolate,  that  is,  shall  not 
corrupt  the  faith  in  them. 

And  again,  although  a  secular  prince 
may  impose  the  capital  sentence,  yet 
this  does  not  exclude  the  judgement  of 
the  Church,  whose  part  it  is  to  try 
and  judge  the  case.  Indeed  this  is  per¬ 
fectly  clear  from  the  Canon  Law  in  the 
chapters  de  summa  trin.  and  fid.  cath., 
and  again  in  the  Law  concerning 
heresy,  c.  ad  abolendam  and  c.  uergentis 
and  c.  excommunicamus ,  i  and  2.  For  the 
same  penalties  are  provided  by  both 
the  Civil  and  the  Canon  Laws,  as  is 
shown  by  the  Canon  Laws  concerning 
the  Manichaean*  and  Arian  heresies. 
Therefore  the  punishment  of  witches 
belongs  to  both  Courts  together,  and 
not  to  one  separately. 

Again,  the  laws  decree  that  clerics 
shall  be  corrected  by  their  own  Judges, 
and  not  by  the  temporal  or  secular 
Courts,  because  their  crimes  are  con¬ 
sidered  to  be  purely  ecclesiastical.  But 
the  crime  of  witches  is  partly  civil  and 
partly  ecclesiastical,  because  they  com¬ 


*  “ Manichaean .”  For  the  close  connexion 
between  the  Manichees  and  witches  see  my  “ His¬ 
tory  of  Witchcraft ,”  Chap.  I. 


mit  temporal  harm  and  violate  the 
faith;  therefore  it  belongs  to  the  Judges 
of  both  Courts  to  try,  sentence,  and 
punish  them. 

This  opinion  is  substantiated  by  the 
Authentics ,  where  it  is  said:  If  it  is  an 
ecclesiastical  crime  needing  ecclesias¬ 
tical  punishment  and  fine,  it  shall  be 
tried  by  a  Bishop  who  stands  in  favour 
with  God,  ana  not  even  the  most 
illustrious  Judges  of  the  Province  shall 
have  any  hand  in  it.  And  we  do  not 
wish  the  civil  Judges  to  have  any  know¬ 
ledge  of  such  proceedings;  for  such 
matters  must  be  examined  ecclesiastic¬ 
ally  and  the  souls  of  the  offenders  must 
be  corrected  by  ecclesiastical  penalties, 
according  to  the  sacred  and  divine 
rules  which  our  laws  worthily  follow. 
So  it  is  said.  Therefore  it  follows  that 
on  the  other  hand  a  crime  which  is  of  a 
mixed  nature  must  be  tried  and  pun¬ 
ished  by  both  Courts. 

We  make  our  answer  to  all  the  above 
as  follows.  Our  main  object  here  is  to 
show  how,  with  God’s  pleasure,  we 
Inquisitors  of  Upper  Germany  may  be 
relieved  of  the  duty  of  trying  witches, 
and  leave  them  to  be  punished  by  their 
own  provincial  Judges;  and  this  be¬ 
cause  of  the  arduousness  of  the  work: 
provided  always  that  such  a  course  shall 
m  no  way  endanger  the  preservation 
of  the  faith  and  the  salvation  of  souls. 
And  therefore  we  engaged  upon  this 
work,  that  we  might  leave  to  the 
Judges  themselves  the  methods  of 
trying,  judging  and  sentencing  in  such 
cases. 

Therefore  in  order  to  show  that  the 
Bishops  can  in  many  cases  proceed 
against  witches  without  the  Inquisitors ; 
although  they  cannot  so  proceed  with¬ 
out  the  temporal  and  civil  Judges  in 
cases  involving  capital  punishment  ;  it 
is  expedient  that  we  set  down  the 
opinions  of  certain  other  Inquisitors  in 
parts  of  Spain,  and  (saving  always  the 
reverence  due  to  them),  since  we  all 
belong  to  one  and  the  same  Order  of 
Preachers,  to  refute  them,  so  that 
each  detail  may  be  more  clearly  under¬ 
stood. 

Their  opinion  is,  then,  that  all 
witches,  diviners,  necromancers,  and  in 
short  all  who  practise  any  kind  of 
divination,  if  they  have  once  embraced 
and  professed  the  Holy  Faith,  are  liable 
to  the  Inquisitorial  Court,  as  in  the 
three  cases  noted  in  the  beginning  of 
the  chapter,  Multorum  querela)  in  the 


Part  III. 


MALEFICARUM 


197 


decretals  of  Pope  Clement  *  concerning 
heresy;  in  which  it  says  that  neither 
must  the  Inquisitor  proceed  without  the 
Bishop,  nor  the  Bishop  without  the  In¬ 
quisitor:  although  there  are  five  other 
cases  in  which  one  may  proceed  without 
the  other,  as  anyone  who  reads  the 
chapter  may  see.  But  in  one  case  it  is 
definitively  stated  that  one  must  not 
proceed  without  the  other,  and  that  is 
when  the  above  diviners  are  to  be  con¬ 
sidered  as  heretics. 

In  the  same  category  they  place 
blasphemers,  and  those  who  in  any  way 
invoke  devils,  and  those  who  are  ex¬ 
communicated  and  have  contumaci¬ 
ously  remained  under  the  ban  of  ex- 
communication  for  a  whole  year,  either 
because  of  some  matter  concerning  faith 
or,  in  certain  circumstances,  not  on 
account  of  the  faith;  and  they  further 
include  several  other  such  offences:  And 
by  reason  of  this  the  authority  of  the 
Ordinary  is  weakened,  since  so  many 
more  burdens  are  placed  upon  us  In¬ 
quisitors  which  we  cannot  safely  bear 
in  the  sight  of  the  terrible  Judge  who 
will  demand  from  us  a  strict  account  of 
the  duties  imposed  upon  us. 

And  because  their  opinion  cannot  be 
refuted  unless  the  fundamental  thesis 
upon  which  it  is  founded  is  proved  un¬ 
sound,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  it  is  based 
upon  the  commentators  on  the  Canon, 
especially  on  the  chapter  accusatus ,  and 
§  sane,  and  on  the  words  “savour  of 
heresy.”  Also  they  rely  upon  the  sayings 
of  the  Theologians,  S.  Thomas,  Blessed 
Albert,  and  S.  Bonaventura,  in  the 
Second  Book  of  Sentences,  dist.  7. 

It  is  best  to  consider  some  of  these  in 


*  “ Pope  Clement”  Pope  Clement  V,  born  at 
Villandraut,  1264;  elected  to  the  Chair  of  S. 
Peter,  5  June,  1305;  died  at  Roquemare ,  20 
April,  1314;  completed  the  mediaeval  “ Corpus 
luris  Canonici”  by  the  publication  of  a  collection 
of  papal  decretals  known  as  “ Clementinae ”  or 
“ Liber  Clementinarum  ,”  sometimes  as  “ Liber 
Septimus”  in  reference  to  the  “ Liber  Sextus”  of 
Boniface  VIII.  It  contains  decretals  of  this 
latter  Pontiff,  of  Benedict  XI,  and  of  Clement 
himself  Together  with  the  decrees  of  the  Council 
of  Vienne  it  was  promulgated ,  21  March ,  1314 , 
at  the  Papal  residence  of  Monteaux  near  Car - 
pentras.  It  is  divided  into  five  books  with  sub¬ 
divisions  of  titles  and  chapters.  As  Clement  V 
died  before  the  collection  had  been  generally 
published ,  John  XXII  promulgated  it  anew,  23 
October ,  1317,  and  sent  it  to  the  University  of 
Bologna  as  the  authoritative  Corpus  of  decretals 
to  be  used  in  the  courts  and  schools. 


detail.  For  when  the  Canon  says,  as 
was  shown  in  the  first  argument,  that 
the  Inquisitors  of  heresy  should  not  con¬ 
cern  themselves  with  soothsayers  and 
diviners  unless  they  manifestly  savour  of 
heresy,  they  say  that  soothsayers  and 
diviners  are  of  two  sorts,  either  arti¬ 
ficial  or  heretical.  And  the  first  sort  are 
called  diviners  pure  and  simple,  since 
they  work  merely  by  art ;  and  such  are 
referred  to  in  the  chapter  de  sortilegiis , 
where  it  says  that  the  presbyter  Udal- 
ricus  went  to  a  secret  place  with  a  cer¬ 
tain  infamous  person,  that  is,  a  diviner, 
says  the  gloss,  not  with  the  intention  of 
invoking  the  devil,  which  would  have 
been  heresy,  but  that,  by  inspecting  the 
astrolabe,  he  might  find  out  some  hid¬ 
den  thing.  And  this,  they  say,  is  pure 
divination  or  sortilege. 

But  the  second  sort  are  called  heret¬ 
ical  diviners,  whose  art  involves  some 
worship  of  or  subjection  to  devils,  and 
who  essay  by  divination  to  predict  the 
future  or  something  of  that  nature, 
which  manifestly  savours  of  heresy; 
and  such  are,  like  other  heretics,  liable 
to  the  Inquisitorial  Court. 

And  that  this  is  the  meaning  of  the 
Canon  they  prove  from  commentaries 
of  the  Canonists  on  the  word  “savour.” 
For  Giovanni  d ’Andrea,  writing  on  this 
Canon  accusatus,  and  on  the  word 
“savour,”  says :  They  savour  of  heresy 
in  this  way,  that  they  utter  nefarious 
prayers  and  offer  sacrifices  at  the  altars 
of  idols,  and  they  consult  with  devils 
and  receive  answers  from  them ;  or  they 
meet  together  to  practise  heretical 
sortes,  or  make  predictions  by  means  of 
blood  or  by  the  Lord’s  Body ;  or  in  their 
sortes,  that  they  may  have  an  answer, 
re-baptize  a  child,  and  practise  other 
such  matters. 

Many  others  also  they  quote  in 
support  of  their  opinion,  including  John 
Modestus ;  S.  Raymund,  and  William  de 
Laudun,  O.P.  And  they  refer  to  the  de¬ 
cision  of  the  Church  at  the  Council  of 
Aquitaine,  c.  26,  q.  5,  Episcopi,  where 
such  superstitious  women  are  called 
infidels,  saying,  Would  that  these  had 
perished  alone  in  their  perfidy.  And 
perfidy  in  a  Christian  is  called  heresy; 
therefore  they  are  subject  to  the  Court 
of  the  Inquisitors  of  heresy. 

They  quote  also  the  Theologians, 
especially  S.  Thomas,  the  Second  Book 
of  Sentences ,  dist.  7,  where  he  considers 
whether  it  is  a  sin  to  use  the  help  of 
devils.  For  speaking  of  that  passage  in 


i  g8 


MALLEUS 


Part  III. 


Esaias  viii :  Should  not  a  people  seek 
unto  their  God?  he  says  among  other 
things :  In  everything  the  fulfilment  of 
which  is  looked  for  from  the  power  of 
the  devil,  because  of  a  pact  entered  into 
with  him,  there  is  apostasy  from  the 
faith,  either  in  word,  if  there  is  some 
invocation,  or  in  deed,  even  if  there  be 
no  sacrifice  offered. 

To  the  same  effect  they  quote 
Albertus,  and  Peter  of  Tarentaise,  and 
Giovanni  Bonaventura,*  who  has  lately 
been  canonized,  not  under  the  name  of 
Giovanni,  although  that  was  his  true 
name.  Also  they  quote  Alexander  of 
Hales  and  Guido  the  Carmelite.t  All 
these  say  that  those  who  invoke  devils 
are  apostates,  and  consequently  here¬ 
tics,  and  therefore  subject  to  the  Court 
of  the  Inquisitors  of  heretics. 

But  the  said  Inquisitors  of  Spain  have 
not,  by  the  above  or  any  other  argu¬ 
ments,  made  out  a  sufficient  case  to 
prove  that  such  soothsayers  etc.  may 
not  be  tried  by  the  Ordinary  or  the 
Bishops  without  the  Inquisitors;  and 
that  the  Inquisitors  may  not  be  relieved 
from  the  duty  of  trying  such  diviners 
and  necromancers,  and  even  witches: 
not  that  the  Inquisitors  are  not  rather 
to  be  praised  than  blamed  when  they 
do  try  such  cases,  when  the  Bishops  fail 
to  do  so.  And  this  is  the  reason  that 
they  have  not  proved  their  case.  The 
Inquisitors  need  only  concern  them¬ 
selves  with  matters  of  heresy,  and  the 
heresy  must  be  manifest ;  as  is  shown  by 
the  frequently  quoted  Canon  accusatus , 

§  sane. 


*  “ Bonaventura .”  The  parents  of  S.  Bona¬ 
ventura  were  Giovanni  di  Fidanza  and  Maria 
Ritella.  He  was  born  at  Bagnorea ,  near 
Viterbo ,  in  1221 ,  and  baptized  Giovanni.  This 
was  changed  to  Bonaventura  owing  to  the 
exclamation  of  S.  Francis ,  “O  buona  ventura,” 
when  the  child  was  brought  to  him  to  be  cured  of 
a  dangerous  illness.  ( This  account  has  been 
doubted ,  and  it  is  true  that  others  bore  the  name 
before  S.  Bonaventura .)  S.  Bonaventura  was 
canonized  by  Sixtus  IV,  14  April,  1482.  This 
formal  enrolment  in  the  catalogue  of  the  Saints 
was  thus  long  delayed  mainly  owing  to  the  un¬ 
fortunate  dissensions  concerning  Franciscan 
affairs  after  the  Saint’s  death,  /5  July,  1274. 
He  was  inscribed  among  the  principal  Doctors  of 
the  Church  by  Sixtus  V,  14  March,  1587.  His 
feast  is  celebrated  14  July. 

t  “Guido  the  Carmelite .”  Guy  de  Perpignan, 
“ Doctor  Parisiensis ,”  d.  1342;  General  of  the 
Carmelite  Order  from  1318-20.  His  chief  work 
was  the  “ Summa  de  Haeresibus.” 


This  being  the  case,  it  follows  that, 
however  serious  and  grave  may  be  the 
sin  which  a  person  commits,  if  it  does 
not  necessarily  imply  heresy,  then  he 
must  not  be  judged  as  a  heretic,  al¬ 
though  he  is  to  be  punished.  Conse¬ 
quently  an  Inquisitor  need  not  inter¬ 
fere  in  the  case  of  a  man  who  is  to  be 
unished  as  a  malefactor,  but  not  as  a 
eretic,  but  may  leave  him  to  be  tried 
by  the  Judges  of  his  own  Province. 

It  follows  again  that  all  the  crimes  of 
invoking  devils  and  sacrificing  to  them, 
of  which  the  Commentators  and  Canon¬ 
ists  and  Theologians  speak,  are  no  con¬ 
cern  of  the  Inquisitors,  but  can  be  left 
to  the  secular  or  episcopal  Courts, 
unless  they  also  imply  heresy.  This 
being  so,  and  it  being  the  case  that  the 
crimes  we  are  considering  are  very 
often  committed  without  any  heresy, 
those  who  are  guilty  of  such  crimes  are 
not  to  be  judged  or  condemned  as 
heretics,  as  is  proved  by  the  following 
authorities  and  arguments. 

For  a  person  rightly  to  be  adjudged  a 
heretic  he  must  fulfil  five  conditions. 
First,  there  must  be  an  error  in  his 
reasoning.  Secondly,  that  error  must  be 
in  matters  concerning  the  faith,  either 
being  contrary  to  the  teaching  of  the 
Church  as  to  the  true  faith,  or  against 
sound  morality  and  therefore  not  lead¬ 
ing  to  the  attainment  of  eternal  life. 
Thirdly,  the  error  must  lie  in  one  who 
has  professed  the  Catholic  faith,  for 
otherwise  he  would  be  a  Jew  or  a 
Pagan,  not  a  heretic.  Fourthly,  the 
error  must  be  of  such  a  nature  that  he 
who  holds  it  must  still  confess  some  of 
the  truth  of  Christ  as  touching  either 
His  Godhead  or  His  Manhood ;  for  if  a 
man  wholly  denies  the  faith,  he  is  an 
apostate.  Fifthly,  he  must  pertinaci¬ 
ously  and  obstinately  hold  to  and  follow 
that  error.  And  that  this  is  the  sense  of 
the  Canon  where  it  speaks  of  heresy  and 
heretics  is  proved  as  follows  (not  by  way 
of  refuting,  but  of  substantiating  the 
gloss  of  the  Canonists). 

For  it  is  well  known  to  all  through 
common  practice  that  the  first  essential 
of  a  heretic  is  an  error  in  the  under¬ 
standing;  but  two  conditions  are  neces¬ 
sary  before  a  man  can  be  called  a 
heretic;  the  first  material,  that  is,  an 
error  in  reasoning,  and  the  second 
formal,  that  is,  an  obstinate  mind.  S. 
Augustine  shows  this  when  he  says : 

A  heretic  is  one  who  either  initiates  or 
follows  new  and  false  opinions.  It  can 


Part  III. 


MALEFICARUM 


199 


also  be  proved  by  the  following  reason¬ 
ing  :  heresy  is  a  form  of  infidelity,  and 
infidelity  exists  subjectively  in  the 
intellect,  in  such  a  way  that  a  man 
believes  something  which  is  quite  con¬ 
trary  to  the  true  faith. 

This  being  so,  whatever  crime  a  man 
commits,  if  he  acts  without  an  error  in 
his  understanding  he  is  not  a  heretic. 
For  example,  if  a  man  commits  fornica¬ 
tion  or  adultery,  although  he  is  dis¬ 
obeying  the  command  Thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery ,  yet  he  is  not  a  heretic 
unless  he  holds  the  opinion  that  it  is 
lawful  to  commit  adultery.  The  point 
can  be  argued  in  this  way:  When  the 
nature  of  a  thing  is  such  that  two  con¬ 
stituent  parts  are  necessary  to  its  exist¬ 
ence,  if  one  of  those  two  parts  is  wanting 
the  thing  itself  cannot  exist;  for  if  it 
could,  then  it  would  not  be  true  that 
that  part  is  necessary  to  its  existence. 
For  in  the  constitution  of  a  house  it  is 
necessary  that  there  should  be  a  founda¬ 
tion,  walls,  and  a  roof;  and  if  one  of 
these  is  missing,  there  is  no  house. 
Similarly,  since  an  error  in  the  under¬ 
standing  is  a  necessary  condition  of 
heresy,  no  action  which  is  done  entirely 
without  any  such  error  can  make  a  man 
a  heretic. 

Therefore  we  Inquisitors  of  Germany 
are  in  agreement  with  Blessed  Anto¬ 
ninus  where  he  treats  of  this  matter  in 
the  second  part  of  his  Summa;  saying 
that  to  baptize  images,  to  worship 
devils,  to  sacrifice  to  them,  to  tread 
underfoot  the  Body  of  Christ,  and  all 
such  terrible  crimes,  do  not  make  a  man 
a  heretic  unless  there  is  an  error  in  his 
understanding.  Therefore  a  man  is  not 
a  heretic  who,  for  example,  baptizes  an 
image,  not  holding  any  erroneous  belief 
about  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  or  its 
effect,  nor  thinking  that  the  baptism  of 
the  image  can  have  any  effect  of  its 
own  virtue ;  but  does  this  in  order  that 
he  may  more  easily  obtain  some  desire 
from  the  devil  whom  he  seeks  to  please 
by  this  means,  acting  with  either  an 
implied  or  an  expressed  pact  that  the 
devil  will  fulfil  the  desires  either  of 
himself  or  of  someone  else.  In  this  way 
men  who,  with  either  a  tacit  or  an 
expressed  pact,  invoke  devils  with  char¬ 
acters  and  figures  in  accordance  with 
magic  practice  to  perform  their  desires 
are  not  necessarily  heretics.  But  they 
must  not  ask  from  the  devil  anything 
which  is  beyond  the  power  or  the  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  devil,  having  a  wrong 


understanding  of  his  power  and  know¬ 
ledge.  Such  would  be  the  case  with  any 
who  believed  that  the  devil  could  coerce 
a  man’s  free  will ;  or  that,  by  reason  of 
their  pact  with  him,  the  devil  could  do 
anything  which  they  desired,  however 
much  it  were  forbidden  by  God;  or 
that  the  devil  can  know  the  whole  of 
the  future;  or  that  he  can  effect  any¬ 
thing  which  only  God  can  do.  For  there 
is  no  doubt  that  men  with  such  beliefs 
have  an  error  in  their  understanding, 
holding  a  wrong  opinion  of  the  power 
of  the  devil ;  and  therefore,  granting  the 
other  conditions  necessary  for  heresy, 
they  would  be  heretics,  and  would  be 
subject  at  once  to  the  Ordinary  and  to 
the  Inquisitorial  Court. 

But  if  they  act  for  the  reasons  we  have 
said,  not  out  of  any  wrong  belief  con¬ 
cerning  baptism  or  the  other  matters 
we  have  mentioned,  as  they  very  com¬ 
monly  do ;  for  since  witches  and  necro¬ 
mancers  know  that  the  devil  is  the 
enemy  of  the  faith  and  the  adversary 
of  salvation,  it  must  follow  that  they 
are  compelled  to  believe  in  their  hearts 
that  there  is  great  might  in  the  faith 
and  that  there  is  no  false  doctrine  of 
which  the  father  of  lies  is  not  known  to 
be  the  origin ;  then,  although  they  sin 
most  grievously,  yet  they  are  not  here¬ 
tics.  And  the  reason  is  that  they  have 
no  wrong  belief  concerning  the  sacra¬ 
ment,  although  they  use  it  wrongly  and 
sacrilegiously.  Therefore  they  are 
rather  sorcerers  than  heretics,  and  are 
to  be  classed  with  those  whom  the  above 
Canon  accusatus  declares  are  not  prop¬ 
erly  subject  to  the  Inquisitorial  Court, 
since  they  do  not  manifestly  savour  of 
heresy;  their  heresy  being  hidden,  if 
indeed  it  exists  at  all. 

It  is  the  same  with  those  who  worship 
and  sacrifice  to  the  devil.  For  if  they  do 
this  in  the  belief  that  there  is  any 
divinity  in  devils,  or  that  they  ought  to 
be  worshipped  and  that,  by  reason  of 
such  worship,  they  can  obtain  from  the 
devil  what  they  desire  in  spite  of  the 
prohibition  or  permission  of  God,  then 
they  are  heretics.  But  if  they  act  in  such 
a  way  not  out  of  any  such  belief  con¬ 
cerning  the  devil,  but  so  that  they  may 
the  more  easily  obtain  their  desires 
because  of  some  pact  formed  with  the 
devil,  then  they  are  not  necessarily 
heretics,  although  they  sin  most  griev¬ 
ously. 

For  greater  clearness,  some  objections 
are  to  be  disposed  of  and  refuted.  For 


200 


MALLEUS 


Part  III. 


it  appears  to  be  against  our  argument 
that,  according  to  the  laws,  a  simonist 
is  not  a  heretic  (i,  q.  i :  “Whoever  by 
means  of  money,  but  not  having  an 
error  of  the  understanding”).  For  a 
simonist  is  not  in  the  narrow  and  exact 
sense  of  the  word  a  heretic ;  but  broadly 
speaking  and  by  comparison  he  is  so, 
according  to  S.  Thomas,  when  he  buys 
or  sells  holy  things  in  the  belief  that  the 

gift  of  grace  can  be  had  for  money. 

ut  if,  as  is  often  the  case,  he  does  not 
act  in  this  belief,  he  is  not  a  heretic. 
Yet  he  truly  would  be  if  he  did  believe 
that  the  gift  of  grace  could  be  had  for 
money. 

Again  we  are  apparently  in  opposi¬ 
tion  to  what  is  said  of  heretics  in  the 
Canon ;  namely,  that  he  who  reveres  a 
heretic  is  himself  a  heretic,  but  he  who 
worships  the  devil  sins  more  heavily 
than  he  who  reveres  a  heretic,  there¬ 
fore,  etc. 

Also,  a  man  must  be  obviously  a 
heretic  in  order  that  he  may  be  judged 
as  such.  For  the  Church  is  competent 
to  judge  only  of  those  things  which  are 
obvious,  God  alone  having  knowledge 
and  being  the  Judge  of  that  which  is 
hidden  (dist.  33,  erubescant ).  But  the 
inner  understanding  can  only  be  made 
apparent  by  intrinsic  actions,  either 
seen  or  proved;  therefore  a  man  who 
commits  such  actions  as  we  are  con¬ 
sidering  is  to  be  judged  a  heretic. 

Also,  it  seems  impossible  that  anyone 
should  commit  such  an  action  as  the 
treading  underfoot  of  the  Body  of  Christ 
unless  he  held  a  wrong  opinion  con¬ 
cerning  the  Body  of  Christ;  for  it  is 
impossible  for  evil  to  exist  in  the  will 
unless  there  is  error  in  the  understand¬ 
ing.  For  according  to  Aristotle  every 
wicked  man  is  either  ignorant  or  in 
error.  Therefore,  since  they  who  do 
such  things  have  evil  in  their  wills,  they 
must  have  an  error  in  their  under¬ 
standings. 

To  these  three  objections  we  answer 
as  follows ;  and  the  first  and  third  may 
be  considered  together.  There  are  two 
kinds  of  judgement,  that  of  God  and 
that  of  men.  God  judges  the  inner  man ; 
whereas  man  can  only  judge  of  the 
inner  thoughts  as  they  are  reflected  by 
outer  actions,  as  is  admitted  in  the  third 
of  these  arguments.  Now  he  who  is  a 
heretic  in  the  judgement  of  God  is  truly 
and  actually  a  heretic;  for  God  judges 
no  one  as  a  heretic  unless  he  has  some 
wrong  belief  concerning  the  faith  in  his 


understanding.  But  when  a  man  is  a 
heretic  in  the  judgement  of  men,  he 
need  not  necessarily  be  actually  a  here¬ 
tic;  but  because  his  deeds  give  an  ap¬ 
pearance  of  a  wrong  understanding  of 
the  faith  he  is,  by  legal  presumption, 
considered  to  be  a  heretic. 

And  if  it  be  asked  whether  the  Church 
should  stigmatize  at  once  as  heretics 
those  who  worship  devils  or  baptize 
images,  note  these  answers.  First,  it  be¬ 
longs  rather  to  the  Canonists  than  to 
the  Theologians  to  discriminate  in  this 
matter.  The  Canonists  will  say  that 
they  are  by  legal  presumption  to  be 
considered  as  heretics,  and  to  be 
punished  as  such.  A  Theologian  will 
say  that  it  is  in  the  first  instance  a 
matter  for  the  Apostolic  See  to  judge 
whether  a  heresy  actually  exists  or  is 
only  to  be  presumed  in  law.  And  this 
may  be  because  whenever  an  effect  can 
proceed  from  a  twofold  cause,  no  pre¬ 
cise  judgement  can  be  formed  of  the 
actual  nature  of  the  cause  merely  on 
the  basis  of  the  effect. 

Therefore,  since  such  effects  as  the 
worship  of  the  devil  or  asking  his  help 
in  the  working  of  witchcraft,  by  bap¬ 
tizing  an  image,  or  offering  to  him  a 
living  child,  or  killing  an  infant,  and 
other  matters  of  this  sort,  can  proceed 
from  two  separate  causes,  namely,  a 
belief  that  it  is  right  to  worship  the 
devil  and  sacrifice  to  him,  and  that 
images  can  receive  sacraments;  or  be¬ 
cause  a  man  has  formed  some  pact  with 
the  devil,  so  that  he  may  obtain  the 
more  easily  from  the  devil  that  which 
he  desires  in  those  matters  which  are 
not  beyond  the  capacity  of  the  devil,  as 
we  have  explained  above ;  it  follows  that 
no  one  ought  hastily  to  form  a  definite 
judgement  merely  on  the  basis  of  the 
effect  as  to  what  is  its  cause,  that  is, 
whether  a  man  does  such  things  out  of 
a  wrong  opinion  concerning  the  faith. 
So  when  there  is  no  doubt  about  the 
effect,  still  it  is  necessary  to  inquire 
farther  into  the  cause;  and  if  it  be 
found  that  a  man  has  acted  out  of  a 
perverse  and  erroneous  opinion  con¬ 
cerning  the  faith,  then  he  is  to  be  judged 
a  heretic  and  will  be  subject  to  trial  by 
the  Inquisitors  together  with  the  Ordi¬ 
nary.  But  if  he  has  not  acted  for  these 
reasons,  he  is  to  be  considered  a  sor¬ 
cerer,  and  a  very  vile  sinner. 

Another  answer  which  touches  the 
matter  nearly  is  that,  whatever  may  be 
said  and  alleged,  it  is  agreed  that  all 


Part  III. 


MALEFICARUM 


201 


diviners  and  witches  who  are  judged  as 
heretics  by  legal  presumption  and  not 
by  actual  fact  are  subject  to  the  Court 
oi  the  Ordinary,  not  of  the  Inquisitors. 
And  the  aforesaid  Inquisitors  of  other 
countries  cannot  defend  their  opinions 
by  quoting  the  Canon  and  its  com¬ 
mentators,  because  they  who  sacrifice 
to  and  worship  devils  are  judged  to  be 
heretics  by  legal  presumption,  and  not 
because  the  facts  obviously  show  that 
they  are  such.  For  the  text  says  that 
they  must  savour  of  heresy  manifestly, 
that  is,  intrinsically  and  by  their  very 
nature.  And  it  is  enough  for  us  Inquisi¬ 
tors  to  concern  ourselves  with  those  who 
are  manifestly  from  the  intrinsic  nature 
of  the  case  heretics,  leaving  others  to 
their  own  judges. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  cause  must 
be  inquired  into,  to  know  whether  or 
not  a  man  acts  out  of  an  error  of  faith ; 
and  this  is  easy.  For  the  spirit  of  faith 
is  known  by  the  act  of  faith,  which  is 
to  believe  and  confess  the  faith;  as  the 
spirit  of  chastity  is  shown  by  a  chaste 
life :  similarly  the  Church  must  judge  a 
man  a  heretic  if  his  actions  show  that 
he  disputes  any  article  of  the  faith.  In 
this  way  even  a  witch,  who  has  wholly 
or  in  part  denied  the  faith,  or  used 
vilely  the  Body  of  Christ,  and  offered 
homage  to  the  devil,  may  have  done 
this  merely  to  propitiate  the  devil ;  and 
even  if  she  has  totally  denied  the  faith 
in  her  heart,  she  is  to  be  judged  as  an 
apostate,  for  the  fourth  condition,  which 
is  necessary  before  anyone  can  rightly 
be  said  to  be  a  heretic,  will  be  wanting. 

But  if  against  this  conclusion  be  set 
the  Bull  and  commission  given  to  us  by 
our  Holy  Father  Innocent  VIII,  that 
witches  should  be  tried  by  the  Inquisi¬ 
tors,  we  answer  in  this  way.  That  this 
is  not  to  say  that  the  Diocesans  also 
cannot  proceed  to  a  definite  sentence 
against  witches,  in  accordance  with 
those  ancient  laws,  as  has  been  said. 
For  that  Bull  was  rather  given  to  us 
because  of  the  great  care  with  which  we 
have  wrought  to  the  utmost  of  our 
ability  with  the  help  of  God.  » 

Therefore  we  cannot  concede  to  those 
other  Inquisitors  their  first  argument, 
since  the  contrary  conclusion  is  rather 
the  true  one ;  for  simonists  are  thought 
to  be  heretics  only  by  legal  presump¬ 
tion,  and  the  Ordinaries  themselves 
without  the  Inquisitors  can  try  them. 
Indeed,  the  Inquisitors  have  no  need  to 
concern  themselves  with  various  simon¬ 


ists,  or  similarly  with  any  others  who 
are  judged  to  be  heretics  only  by  legal 
presumption.  For  they  cannot  proceed 
against  schismatic  Bishops  and  other 
high  Dignitaries,  as  is  shown  by  the 
chapter  of  the  Inquisition  Concerning 
Heretics ,  Book  VI,  where  it  says:  The 
Inquisitors  of  the  sin  of  heresy  deputed 
by  the  Apostolic  See  or  by  any  other 
authority  have  no  power  to  try  such 
offenders  on  this  sort  of  charge,  or  to 
proceed  against  them  under  pretext  of 
their  office,  unless  it  is  expressly  stated 
in  the  letters  of  commission  from  the 
Apostolic  See  that  they  are  empowered 
to  do  so. 

But  if  the  Inquisitors  know  or  dis¬ 
cover  that  Bishops  or  other  high  Dig¬ 
nitaries  have  been  charged  with  heresy, 
or  have  been  denounced  or  suspected 
of  that  crime,  it  is  their  duty  to  report 
the  fact  to  the  Apostolic  See. 

Similarly  the  answer  to  their  second 
argument  is  clear  from  what  has  been 
said.  For  he  who  cherishes  and  com¬ 
forts  a  heretic  is  himself  a  heretic  if  he 
does  this  in  the  belief  that  he  is  worthy 
to  be  cherished  or  honoured  on  account 
of  his  doctrine  or  opinion.  But  if  he 
honours  him  for  some  temporal  reason, 
without  any  error  of  faith  in  his  under¬ 
standing,  he  is  not  rightly  speaking  a 
heretic,  though  he  is  so  by  a  legal  fiction 
or  presumption  or  comparison,  because 
he  acts  as  if  he  held  a  wrong  belief 
concerning  the  faith  like  him  whom  he 
cherishes:  so  in  this  case  he  is  not 
subject  to  the  Inquisitorial  Court. 

The  third  argument  is  similarly  an¬ 
swered.  For  though  a  man  should  be 
judged  by  the  Church  as  a  heretic  on 
account  of  his  outward  actions,  visible 
and  proved,  yet  it  does  not  always  fol¬ 
low  that  he  is  actually  a  heretic,  but  is 
only  so  reputed  by  legal  presumption. 
Therefore  m  this  case  he  is  not  liable  to 
be  tried  by  the  Inquisitorial  Court,  be¬ 
cause  he  does  not  manifestly  savour  of 
heresy. 

For  their  fourth  argument,  it  is  a 
false  assumption  to  say  that  it  is  not 
possible  for  anyone  to  tread  underfoot 
the  Body  of  Christ  unless  he  has  some 
perverse  and  wrong  belief  concerning 
the  Body  of  Christ.  For  a  man  may  do 
this  with  a  full  knowledge  of  his  sin,  and 
with  a  firm  belief  that  the  Body  of 
Christ  is  truly  there.  But  he  does  it  to 
please  the  devil,  and  that  he  may  more 
easily  obtain  his  desire  from  him.  And 
though  in  every  sin  there  is  error,  it 


202 


MALLEUS 


Part  III. 


need  not  necessarily  be  an  error  of  the 
understanding,  which  is  heresy  or  a 
wrong  belief  concerning  the  faith;  for 
it  may  be  an  erroneous  use  of  some 
power  which  turns  it  to  vicious  pur¬ 
poses  ;  and  then  it  will  only  be  the  first 
of  those  five  conditions  which  are  neces¬ 
sary  constituents  of  heresy,  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  which  a  heretic  is  rightly 
liable  to  the  Inquisitorial  Co.urt. 

And  it  is  not  a  valid  objection  to  say 
that  an  Inquisitor  may,  nevertheless, 
proceed  against  those  who  are  de¬ 
nounced  as  heretics,  or  are  under  a 
light  or  a  strong  or  a  grave  suspicion 
of  heresy,  although  they  do  not  appear 
to  savour  manifestly  of  heresy.  For  we 
answer  that  an  Inquisitor  may  proceed 
against  such  in  so  far  as  they  are  de¬ 
nounced  or  suspected  for  heresy  rightly 
so  called ;  and  this  is  the  sort  of  heresy 
of  which  we  are  speaking  (as  we  have 
often  said),  in  which  there  is  an  error 
in  the  understanding,  and  the  other 
four  conditions  are  superadded.  And 
the  second  of  these  conditions  is  that 
such  error  should  consist  in  matters 
concerning  the  faith,  or  should  be  con¬ 
trary  to  the  true  decisions  of  the  Church 
in  matters  of  faith  and  good  behaviour 
and  that  which  is  necessary  for  the 
attainment  of  eternal  life.  For  if  the 
error  be  in  some  matter  which  does  not 
concern  the  faith,  as,  for  example,  a 
belief  that  the  sun  is  not  greater  than 
the  earth,  or  something  of  that  sort, 
then  it  is  not  a  dangerous  error.  But  an 
error  against  Holy  Scripture,  against 
the  articles  of  the  faith,  or  against  the 
decision  of  the  Church,  as  has  been  said 
above,  is  heresy  (art.  24,  q.  1,  haec  est 
jides) .  • 

Again,  the  determination  of  doubts 
respecting  the  faith  belongs  chiefly  to 
the  Church,  and  especially  to  the 
Supreme  Pontiff,  Christ’s  Vicar,  the 
successor  of  S.  Peter,  as  is  expressly 
stated  (art.  24,  q.  1 ,  quotiens ) .  And  against 
the  determination  of  the  Church,  as 
S.  Thomas  says,  art.  2,  q.  2,  no  Doctor  or 
Saint  maintains  his  own  opinion;  not 
S.  Jerome  nor  S.  Augustine  nor  any 
other.  For  just  as  he  who  obstinately 
argues  against  the  faith  is  a  heretic,  so 
also  is  he  who  stubbornly  maintains  his 
opinion  against  the  determination  of  the 
Church  in  matters  concerning  the  faith 
and  that  which  is  necessary  for  salva¬ 
tion.  For  the  Church  herself  has  never 
been  proved  to  be  in  error  over  matters 
of  faith  (as  it  is  said  in  art.  24,  q.  1 ,  a  recta , 


and  in  other  chapters).  And  it  is  ex¬ 
pressly  said,  that  he  who  maintains  any¬ 
thing  against  the  determination  of  the 
Church,  not  in  an  open  and  honest 
manner,  but  in  matters  which  concern 
faith  and  salvation,  is  a  heretic.  For  he 
need  not  be  a  heretic  because  he  dis¬ 
agrees  over  other  matters,  such  as  the 
separability  of  law  from  use  in  matters 
wnich  are  affected  by  use:  this  matter 
has  been  settled  by  Pope  John  XXII 
in  his  Extrauagantes*  where  he  says 
that  they  who  contradict  this  opinion 
are  stubborn  and  rebellious  against  the 
Church,  but  not  heretics. 

The  third  condition  required  is  that 
he  who  holds  the  error  should  be  one 
who  has  professed  the  Catholic  faith. 
For  if  a  man  has  never  professed  the 
Christian  faith,  he  is  not  a  heretic  but 
simply  an  infidel,  like  the  Jews  or  the 
Gentiles  who  are  outside  the  faith. 
Therefore  S.  Augustine  says  in  the  City 
of  God:  The  devil,  seeing  the  human 
race  to  be  delivered  from  the  worship 
of  idols  and  devils,  stirred  up  heretics 
who,  under  the  guise  of  Christians, 
should  oppose  Christian  doctrine.  So 
for  a  man  to  be  a  heretic  it  is  necessary 
that  he  should  have  received  the  Chris¬ 
tian  faith  in  baptism. 

Fourthly,  it  is  necessary  that  the  man 
who  so  errs  should  retain  some  of  the 
true  belief  concerning  Christ,  pertain¬ 
ing  either  to  His  divinity  or  to  His 
humanity.  For  if  he  retains  no  part  of 
the  faith,  he  is  more  rightly  to  be  con¬ 
sidered  an  apostate  than  a  heretic.  In 
this  way  Julian  was  an  apostate.  For 


*  “ Extrauagantes This  word  designates 
some  Papal  decretals  not  contained  in  certain 
canonical  collections  which  possess  a  special 
authority,  that  is,  they  are  not  found  in  ( but 
“ wander  outside ,”  (Cextra  uagari ”)  the  Decree 
of  Gratian,  or  the  three  great  official  collections 
of  the  '’'‘Corpus  Iuris ”  ( the  Decretals  of  Gregory 
IX;  the  Sixth  Book  of  the  Decretals;  and  the 
Clementines ).  The  term  is  now  applied  to  the 
collections  known  as  the  “ Extrauagantes  Ioannis 
XXII ”  and  the  “ Extrauagantes  Communes .” 
When  John  XXII  ( 1316-34 )  published  the 
Decretals  already  known  as  “ Clementines ,” 
there  also  existed  various  pontifical  documents, 
obligatory  upon  the  whole  Church  indeed ,  but  not 
included  in  the  “ Corpus  Iuris,”  and  these  were 
called  “ Extrauagantes .”  In  1325  Jenselinus  de 
Cassanis  added  glosses  to  twenty  constitutions  of 
John  XXII,  and  named  this  collection  “ Uiginti 
Extrauagantes  papae  Ioannis  XXII.”  Chappuis 
also  classified  these  under  fourteen  titles  con - 
taining  in  all  twenty  chapters. 


Part  III. 


MALEFICARUM 


203 


the  two  are  quite  distinct,  though  some-* 
times  they  are  confused.  For  in  this 
manner  there  are  found  to  be  men  who, 
driven  by  poverty  and  various  afflic¬ 
tions,  surrender  themselves  body  and 
soul  to  the  devil,  and  deny  the  faith,  on 
condition  that  the  devil  will  help  them 
in  their  need  to  the  attainment  of  riches 
and  honours. 

For  we  Inquisitors  have  known  some, 
of  whom  a  few  afterwards  repented,  who 
have  behaved  in  this  way  merely  for 
the  sake  of  temporal  gain,  and  not 
through  any  error  in  the  understanding ; 
wherefore  they  are  not  rightly  heretics, 
nor  even  apostates  in  their  hearts,  as 
was  Julian,  though  they  must  be 
reckoned  as  apostates. 

They  who  are  apostates  in  their  heart 
and  refuse  to  return  to  the  faith  are, 
like  impenitent  heretics,  to  be  delivered 
to  the  secular  Court.  But  if  they  are 
desirous  of  reconciliation,  they  are  re¬ 
ceived  back  into  the  Church,  like  peni¬ 
tent  heretics.  See  the  chapter  ad  abo¬ 
lendam, §  praesenti ,  de  haere  tic.,  lib.  6.  Of 
the  same  opinion  is  S.  Raymund  in  his 
work  de  Apostolica ,  cap.  reuertentes ,  where 
he  says  that  they  who  return  from  the 
perfidy  of  apostasy,  though  they  were 
heretics,  are  to  be  received  back  like 
penitent  heretics.  And  here  the  two  are 
confused,  as  we  have  said.  And  he  adds : 
Those  who  deny  the  faith  through  fear 
of  death  (that  is,  who  deny  the  faith 
for  the  sake  of  temporal  gain  from  the 
devil,  but  do  not  believe  their  error) 
are  heretics  in  the  sight  of  the  law,  but 
are  not,  properly  speaking,  heretics.  And 
he  adds :  Although  they  have  no  erro¬ 
neous  belief,  yet  since  the  Church  must 
judge  by  outward  signs  they  are  to  be 
considered  as  heretics  (note  this  fiction 
of  the  law) ;  and  if  they  return,  they  are 
to  be  received  as  penitent  heretics.  For 
the  fear  of  death,  or  the  desire  for  tem¬ 
poral  gain,  is  not  sufficient  to  cause  a 
constant  man  to  deny  the  faith  of  Christ. 
Wherefore  he  concludes  that  it  is  more 
holy  to  die  than  to  deny  the  faith  or  to 
be  fed  by  idolatrous  means,  as  S.  Augus¬ 
tine  says. 

The  judgement  of  witches  who  deny 
the  faith  would  be  the  same ;  that  when 
they  wish  to  return  they  should  be  re¬ 
ceived  as  penitents,  but  otherwise  they 
should  be  left  to  the  secular  Court.  But 
they  are  by  all  means  to  be  received 
back  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church 
when  they  repent;  and  are  left  to  the 
secular  Court  if  they  will  not  return; 


and  this  is  because  of  the  temporal 
injuries  which  they  cause,  as  will  be 
shown  in  the  methods  of  passing  sen¬ 
tence.  And  all  this  may  be  done  by  the 
Ordinary,  so  that  the  Inquisitor  can 
leave  his  duties  to  him,  at  least  in  a 
case  of  apostasy ;  for  it  is  otherwise  in 
other  cases  of  sorcerers. 

The  fifth  condition  necessary  for  a 
man  to  be  rightly  thought  a  heretic  is 
that  he  should  obstinately  and  stub¬ 
bornly  persist  in  his  error.  Hence,  ac¬ 
cording  to  S.  Jerome,  the  etymological 
meaning  of  heresy  is  Choice.  And  again 
S.  Augustine  says :  Not  he  who  initiates 
or  follows  false  doctrines,  but  he  who 
obstinately  defends  them,  is  to  be  con¬ 
sidered  a  heretic.  Therefore  if  anyone 
does  not  evilly  persist  in  believing  some 
false  doctrine,  but  errs  through  ignor¬ 
ance  and  is  prepared  to  be  corrected 
and  to  be  shown  that  his  opinion  is 
false  and  contrary  to  Holy  Scripture 
and  the  determination  of  the  Church, 
he  is  not  a  heretic.  S.  Paul  also  con¬ 
firms  this  opinion.  And  S.  Augustine 
himself  used  to  say:  I  may  err,  but  I 
shall  not  be  a  heretic.  For  he  was  ready 
to  be  corrected  when  his  error  was 
pointed  out  to  him.  And  it  is  agreed 
that  every  day  the  Doctors  h  ive  various 
opinions  concerning  Divine  matters, 
and  sometimes  they  are  contradictory, 
so  that  one  of  them  must  be  false ;  and 
yet  none  of  them  are  reputed  to  be 
false  until  the  Church  has  come  to  a 
decision  concerning  them.  See  art.  24, 
q.  3,  qui  in  ecclesia. 

From  all  this  it  is  concluded  that  the 
sayings  of  the  Canonists  on  the  words 
“  savour  manifestly  of  heresy  ”  in  the 
chapter  accusatus  do  not  sufficiently 
prove  that  witches  and  others  who  in 
any  way  invoke  devils  are  subject  to 
trial  by  the  Inquisitorial  Court;  for  it 
is  only  by  a  legal  fiction  that  they  judge 
such  to  be  heretics.  Neither  is  it  proved 
by  the  words  of  the  Theologians;  for 
they  call  such  persons  apostates  either 
in  word  or  in  deed,  but  not  in  their 
thoughts  and  their  hearts;  and  it  is  of 
this  last  error  that  the  words  “  savour 
of  heresy  ”  speak. 

And  though  such  persons  should  be 
judged  to  be  heretics,  it  does  not  follow 
from  this  that  a  Bishop  cannot  proceed 
against  them  without  an  Inquisitor  to 
a  definite  sentence,  or  punish  them  with 
imprisonment  or  torture.  More  than 
this,  even  when  this  decision  does  not 
seem  enough  to  warrant  the  exemption 


204 


MALLEUS 


Part  III. 


of  us  Inquisitors  from  the  duty  of  trying 
patches,  still  we  are  unwilling  to  con¬ 
sider  that  we  are  legally  compelled  to 
perform  such  duties  ourselves,  since  we 
can  depute  the  Diocesans  to  our  office, 
at  least  in  respect  of  arriving  at  a 
judgement. 

For  this  provision  is  made  in  the 
Canon  Law  (c.  multorum  in  prin.  de 
haeret,  in  Clem.).  There  it  says:  As  a 
result  of  a  general  complaint,  and  that 
this  sort  of  Inquisition  may  proceed 
more  fortunately  and  the  inquiry  into 
this  crime  be  conducted  more  skilfully, 
diligently,  and  carefully,  we  order  that 
this  kind  of  case  may  be  tried  by  the 
Diocesan  Bishops  as  well  as  by  the 
Inquisitors  deputed  by  the  Apostolic 
See,  all  carnal  hatred  or  fear  or  any 
temporal  affection  of  this  sort  being 
put  aside;  and  so  either  of  the  above 
may  move  without  the  other,  and  arrest 
or  seize  a  witch,  placing  her  in  safe 
custody  in  fetters  and  iron  chains,  if  it 
seems  good  to  him;  and  in  this  matter 
we  leave  the  conduct  of  the  affair  to 
his  own  conscience ;  but  there  must  be 
no  negligence  in  inquiring  into  such 
matters  in  a  manner  agreeable  to  God 
and  justice;  but  such  witches  must  be 
thrust  into  prison  rather  as  a  matter  of 
punishment  than  custody,  or  be  ex¬ 
posed  to  torture,  or  be  sentenced  to 
some  punishment.  And  a  Bishop  can 
proceed  without  an  Inquisitor,  or  an 
Inquisitor  without  a  Bishop ;  or,  if  either 
of  their  offices  be  vacant,  their  deputies 
may  act  independently  of  each  other, 
provided  that  it  is  impossible  for  them 
to  meet  together  for  joint  action  within 
eight  days  of  the  time  when  the  inquiry 
is  due  to  commence ;  but  if  there  be  no 
valid  reason  for  their  not  meeting  to¬ 
gether,  the  action  shall  be  null  and  void 
in  law. 

The  chapter  proceeds  to  support  our 
contention  as  follows :  But  if  the  Bishop 
or  the  Inquisitor,  or  either  of  their 
deputies,  are  unable  or  unwilling,  for 
any  of  the  reasons  which  we  have  men¬ 
tioned,  to  meet  together  personally, 
they  can  severally  depute  their  duties 
to  each  other,  or  else  signify  their  advice 
and  approval  by  letters. 

From  this  it  is  clear  that  even  in  those 
cases  where  the  Bishop  is  not  entirely 
independent  of  the  Inquisitor,  the  In¬ 
quisitor  can  depute  the  Bishop  to  act 
in  his  stead,  especially  in  the  matter  of 
passing  sentence :  therefore  we  ourselves 
have  decided  to  act  according  to  this 


decision,  leaving  other  Inquisitors  in 
other  districts  to  act  as  seems  good  to 
them. 

Therefore  in  answer  to  the  arguments, 
it  is  clear  that  witches  and  sorcerers 
have  not  necessarily  to  be  tried  by  the 
Inquisitors.  But  as  for  the  other  argu¬ 
ments  which  seek  to  make  it  possible 
for  the  Bishops  in  their  turn  to  be  re¬ 
lieved  from  the  trial  of  witches,  and 
leave  this  to  the  Civil  Court,  it  is  clear 
that  this  is  not  so  easy  in  their  case  as  it 
is  in  that  of  the  Inquisitors.  For  the 
Canon  Law  (c.  ad  abolendam ,  c.  uergentis , 
and  c.  excommunicamus  utrumque )  says  that 
in  a  case  of  heresy  it  is  for  the  eccle¬ 
siastical  judge  to  try  and  to  judge,  but 
for  the  secular  judge  to  carry  out  the 
sentence  and  to  punish;  that  is,  when 
a  capital  punishment  is  in  question, 
though  it  is  otherwise  with  other  peni¬ 
tential  punishments. 

It  seems  also  that  in  the  heresy  of 
witches,  though  not  in  the  case  of  other 
heresies,  the  Diocesans  also  can  hand 
over  to  the  Civil  Courts  the  duty  of 
trying  and  judging,  and  this  for  two 
reasons :  first  because,  as  we  have  men¬ 
tioned  in  our  arguments,  the  crime  of 
witches  is  not  purely  ecclesiastical,  being 
rather  civil  on  account  of  the  temporal 
injuries  which  they  commit;  and  also 
because  special  laws  are  provided  for 
dealing  with  witches. 

Finally,  it  seems  that  in  this  way  it  is 
easiest  to  proceed  with  the  extermina¬ 
tion  of  witches,  and  that  the  greatest 
help  is  thus  given  to  the  Ordinary  in 
the  sight  of  that  terrible  Judge  who,  as 
the  Scriptures  testify,  will  exact  the 
strictest  account  from  and  will  most 
hardly  judge  those  who  have  been 
placed  in  authority.  Accordingly  we 
will  proceed  on  this  understanding, 
namely,  that  the  secular  Judge  can  try 
and  judge  such  cases,  himself  proceed¬ 
ing  to  the  capital  punishment,  but  leav¬ 
ing  the  imposition  of  any  other  peni¬ 
tential  punishment  to  the  Ordinary. 

A  Summary  or  Classification  of  the  Matters 
Treated  of  in  this  Third  Part. 

In  order,  then,  that  the  Judges  both 
ecclesiastical  and  civil  may  have  a  ready 
knowledge  of  the  methods  of  trying, 
judging  and  sentencing  in  these  cases, 
we  shall  proceed  under  three  main 
heads.  First,  the  method  of  initiating  a 
process  concerning  matters  of  the  faith ; 
second,  the  method  of  proceeding  with 


Part  III.  Question  i.  MALEFICARUM 


the  trial;  and  third,  the  method  of 
bringing  it  to  a  conclusion  and  passing 
sentence  on  witches. 

The  first  head  dezds  with  five  difficul¬ 
ties.  First,  which  of  the  three  methods 
of  procedure  provided  by  the  law  is  the 
most  suitable.  Second,  the  number  of 
witnesses.  Third,  whether  these  can  be 
compelled  to  take  the  oath.  Fourth, 
the  condition  of  the  witnesses.  Fifth, 
whether  mortal  enemies  may  be  allowed 
to  give  evidence. 

The  second  head  contains  eleven 
Questions.  I.  How  witnesses  are  to  be 
examined,  and  that  there  should  always 
be  five  persons  present.  Also  how 
j  witches  are  to  be  interrogated,  generally 
j  and  particularly.  (This  will  be  num¬ 
bered  the  Sixth  Question  of  the  whole 
Part;  but  we  alter  the  numeration  here 
to  facilitate  reference  by  the  reader.) 
II.  Various  doubts  are  cleared  up  as  to 
negative  answers,  and  when  a  witch  is 
to  be  imprisoned,  and  when  she  is  to  be 
considered  as  manifestly  guilty  of  the 
heresy  of  witchcraft.  III.  The  method 
of  arresting  witches.  IV.  Of  two  duties 
which  devolve  upon  the  Judge  after  the 
arrest,  and  whether  the  names  of  the 
deponents  should  be  made  known  to 
the  accused.  V.  Of  the  conditions 
under  which  an  Advocate  shall  be 
allowed  to  plead  for  the  defence. 
VI.  What  measures  the  Advocate  shall 
take  when  the  names  of  the  witnesses 
are  not  made  known  to  him,  and  when 
he  wishes  to  protest  to  the  Judge  that 
the  witnesses  are  mortal  enemies  of  the 
prisoner.  VII.  How  the  Judge  ought 
to  investigate  the  suspicion  of  such 
mortal  enmity.  VIII.  Of  the  points 
which  the  Judge  must  consider  before 
consigning  the  prisoner  to  torture. 

IX.  Of  the  method  of  sentencing  the 
prisoner  to  examination  by  torture. 

X.  Of  the  method  of  proceeding  with 
the  torture,  and  how  they  are  to  be  tor¬ 
tured;  and  bf  the  provisions  against 
silence  on  the  part  of  the  witch.  XI.  Of 
the  final  interrogations  and  precautions 
to  be  observed  by  the  Judge. 

The  third  head  contains  first  of  all 
three  Questions  dealing  with  matters 
which  the  Judge  must  take  into  con¬ 
sideration,  on  which  depends  the  whole 
method  of  passing  sentence.  First, 
whether  a  prisoner  can  be  convicted  by 
a  trial  of  red-hot  iron.  Second,  of  the 
method  in  which  all  sentences  should 
be  passed.  Third,  what  degrees  of  sus¬ 
picion  can  justify  a  trial,  and  what  sort 


205 

of  sentence  ought  to  be  passed  in  respect 
of  each  degree  of  suspicion.  Finally,  we 
treat  of  twenty  methods  of  delivering 
sentence,  thirteen  of  which  are  common 
to  all  kinds  of  heresy,  and  the  remainder 
particular  to  the  heresy  of  witches.  But 
since  these  will  appear  in  their  own 
places,  for  the  sake  of  brevity  they  are 
not  detailed  here. 


☆ 


THE  FIRST  HEAD 
QJJESTION  I 

The  Method  of  Initiating  a  Process. 

THE  first  question,  then,  is  what  is 
the  suitable  method  of  instituting 
a  process  on  behalf  of  the  faith  against 
witches.  In  answer  to  this  it  must  be 
said  that  there  are  three  methods 
allowed  by  Canon  Law.  The  first  is 
when  someone  accuses  a  person  before 
a  judge  of  the  crime  of  heresy,  or  of 
protecting  heretics,  offering  to  prove  it, 
and  to  submit  himself  to  the  penalty 
of  talion  if  he  fails  to  prove  it.  The 
second  method  is  when  someone  de¬ 
nounces  a  person,  but  does  not  offer  to 
prove  it  and  is  not  willing  to  embroil 
himself  in  the  matter ;  but  says  that  he 
lays  information  out  of  zeal  for  the  faith, 
or  because  of  a  sentence  of  excom¬ 
munication  inflicted  by  the  Ordinary 
or  his  Vicar;  or  because  of  the  tem¬ 
poral  punishment  exacted  by  the  secular 
Judge  upon  those  who  fail  to  lay 
information. 

The  third  method  involves  an  in¬ 
quisition,  that  is,  when  there  is  no 
accuser  or  informer,  but  a  general 
report  that  there  are  witches  in  some 
town  or  place;  and  then  the  Judge 
must  proceed,  not  at  the  instance  of 
any  party,  but  simply  by  virtue  of  his 
office. 

Here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  a  judge 
should  not  readily  admit  the  first 
method  of  procedure.  For  one  thing,  it 
is  not  actuated  by  motives  of  faith,  nor 
is  it  very  applicable  to  the  case  of 
witches,  since  they  commit  their  deeds 
in  secret.  Then,  again,  it  is  full  of  dan¬ 
ger  to  the  accuser,  because  of  the 
penalty  of  talion  which  he  will  incur  if 
he  fails  to  prove  his  case.  Then,  again, 
it  is  very  litigious. 

Let  the  process  begin  with  a  general 
citation  affixed  to  the  walls  of  the 


206 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  i. 


Parish  Church  or  the  Town  Hall,  in 
the  following  manner. 

WHEREAS  we,  the  Vicar  of  such 
and  such  Ordinary  (or  the  Judge  of 
such  and  such  county),  do  endeavour 
with  all  our  might  and  strive  with  our 
whole  heart  to  preserve  the  Christian 
people  entrusted  to  us  in  unity  and  the 
happiness  of  the  Catholic  faith  and  to 
keep  them  far  removed  from  every 
plague  of  abominable  heresy:  There¬ 
fore  we  the  aforesaid  Judge  to  whose 
office  it  belongs,  to  the  glory  and  honour 
of  the  worshipful  name  of  JESUS  Christ 
and  for  the  exaltation  of  the  Holy 
Orthodox  Faith,  and  for  the  putting 
down  of  the  abomination  of  heresy, 
especially  in  all  witches  in  general  and 
in  each  one  severally  of  whatever  con¬ 
dition  or  estate:  (Here,  if  he  is  an 
ecclesiastical  Judge,  let  him  add  a  sum¬ 
mons  to  all  priests  and  dignitaries  of  the 
Church  in  that  town  and  for  a  distance 
of  two  miles  about  it,  who  have  know¬ 
ledge  of  this  notice.  And  he  shall  add) 
By  the  authority  which  we  exercise  in 
this  district,  and  in  virtue  of  holy 
obedience  and  under  pain  of  excom¬ 
munication,  we  direct,  command,  re¬ 
quire,  and  admonish  that  within  the 
space  of  twelve  days  (Here  the  secular 
Judge  shall  command  in  his  own  man¬ 
ner  under  pain  of  penalties  suitable  to 
his  office),  the  first  four  of  which  shall 
stand  for  the  first  warning,  the  second 
for  the  second,  and  the  third  for  the 
third  warning ;  and  we  give  this  treble 
canonical  warning  that  they  should 
reveal  it  unto  us  if  anyone  know,  see, 
or  have  heard  that  any  person  is  re¬ 
ported  to  be  a  heretic  or  a  witch,  or  if 
any  is  suspected  especially  of  such  prac¬ 
tices  as  cause  injury  to  men,  cattle,  or 
the  fruits  of  the  earth,  to  the  loss  of  the 
State.  But  if  any  do  not  obey  these 
aforesaid  commands  and  admonitions 
by  revealing  such  matters  within  the 
term  fixed,  let  him  know  (Here  the 
ecclesiastical  Judge  shall  add)  that  he 
is  Cut  off  by  the  sword  of  excommunica¬ 
tion  (The  secular  Judge  shall  add  the 
temporal  punishments) .  Which  sen¬ 
tence  of  excommunication  we  impose 
as  from  this  time  by  this  writing  upon 
all  and  several  who  thus  stubbornly  set 
at  naught  these  our  canonical  warnings 
aforesaid,  and  our  requirement  of  their 
obedience,  reserving  to  ourselves  alone 
the  absolution  of  such  sentence  (The 
secular  Judge  shall  conclude  in  his 
manner).  Given,  etc. 


Note  also  that  in  the  case  of  the 
second  method  the  following  caution 
should  be  observed.  For  it  has  been 
said  that  the  second  method  of  pro¬ 
cedure  and  of  instituting  a  process  on 
behalf  of  the  faith  is  by  means  of  an 
information,  where  the  informer  does 
not  offer  to  prove  his  statement  and  is 
not  ready  to  be  embroiled  in  the  case, 
but  only  speaks  because  of  a  sentence 
of  excommunication,  or  out  of  zeal  for 
the  faith  and  for  the  good  of  the  State. 
Therefore  the  secular  Judge  must 
specify  in  his  general  citation  or  warn¬ 
ing  aforesaid,  that  none  should  think 
that  he  will  become  liable  to  a  penalty 
even  if  he  fails  to  prove  his  words; 
since  he  comes  forward  not  as  an 
accuser  but  as  an  informer. 

And  then,  since  several  will  appear 
to  lay  information  before  the  Judge,  he 
ought  to  take  care  to  proceed  in  the 
following  manner.  First,  let  him  have  a 
Notary  and  two  honest  persons,  either 
clerics  or  laymen ;  or  if  a  Notary  is  not 
to  be  procured,  then  let  there  be  two 
suitable  men  in  the  place  of  the  Notary. 
For  this  is  dealt  with  in  the  c.  ut 
officium ,  §  uerum,  lib.  6,  where  it  is  said : 
But  because  it  is  expedient  to  proceed 
with  great  caution  in  the  trial  of  a 
grave  crime,  that  no  error  may  be  com¬ 
mitted  in  imposing  upon  the  guilty  a 
deservedly  severe  punishment;  we  de¬ 
sire  and  command  that,  in  the  examina¬ 
tion  of  the  witnesses  necessary  in  such 
a  charge,  you  shall  have  two  religious 
and  discreet  persons,  either  clerics  or 
laymen. 

It  goes  on  to  say :  In  the  presence  of 
these  persons  the  depositions  of  the  wit¬ 
nesses  shall  be  faithfully  written  down 
by  a  public  official  if  one  is  obtainable, 
or,  if  not,  by  two  suitable  men.  Note 
therefore  that,  having  these  persons,  the 
Judge  shall  order  the  informer  to  lay 
his  information  in  writing,  or  at  least 
give  it  clearly  by  word  of  mouth.  And 
then  the  Notary  or  the  Judge  shall  begin 
the  process  in  the  following  manner. 

In  the  Name  of  the  Lord.  Amen. 

In  the  year  of  Our  Lord - ,  on  the 

-  day  of  the  -  month,  in  the 

presence  of  me  the  Notary  and  of  the 
witnesses  subscribed,  N.  of  the  town  of 

- in  the  Diocese  of - ,  as  above, 

appeared  in  person  at - before  the 

honourable  Judge,  and  offered  him  a 
schedule  to  the  following  effect. 


Part  III.  Question  i.  MALEFICARUM 


207 


(Here  shall  follow  the  schedule  in  its 
entirety.  But  if  he  has  not  deposed  in 
writing  but  by  word  of  mouth,  it  shall 
continue  thus.) 

He  appeared,  etc.  and  laid  informa¬ 
tion  to  the  Judge  that  N.  of  the  town  or 

arish  of - in  the  Diocese  of  — - — 

ad  said  and  asserted  that  he  knew 
how  to  perform  or  had  actually  done 
certain  injuries  to  the  deponent  or  to 
other  persons. 

After  this,  he  shall  immediately  make 
the  deponent  take  the  oath  in  the  usual 
manner,  either  on  the  four  Gospels  of 
God,  or  on  the  Cross,  raising  three 
fingers  and  depressing  two  in  witness 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  of  the  damna¬ 
tion  of  his  soul  and  body,  that  he  will 
speak  the  truth  in  his  depositions.  And 
when  the  oath  has  been  sworn,  he  shall 
question  him  as  to  how  he  knows  that 
his  depositions  are  true,  and  whether 
he  saw  or  heard  that  to  which  he 
swears.  And  if  he  says  that  he  has  seen 
anything,  as,  for  example,  that  the 
accused  was  present  at  such  a  time  of 
tempest,  or  that  he  had  touched  an 
animal,  or  had  entered  a  stable,  the 
Judge  shall  ask  when  he  saw  him, 
and  where,  and  how  often,  and  in  what 
manner,  and  who  were  present.  If  he 
says  that  he  did  not  see  it,  but  heard  of 
it,  he  shall  ask  him  from  whom  he 
heard  it,  where,  when,  and  how  often, 
and  in  whose  presence,  making  separate 
articles  of  each  of  the  several  points 
above  mentioned.  And  the  Notary  or 
scribe  shall  set  down  a  record  of  them 
immediately  after  the  aforesaid  denun¬ 
ciation  ;  and  it  shall  continue  thus : 

This  denunciation,  as  we  have  said, 
having  been  made,  the  Inquisitor  him¬ 
self  did  at  once  cause  him  to  swear  as 
above  on  the  four  Gospels,  etc.  that  he 
was  speaking  the  truth  in  his  deposi¬ 
tions,  and  did  ask  him  how  and  why  he 
knew  or  suspected  that  what  he  said 
was  true.  He  did  make  answer  either 
that  he  saw,  or  that  he  heard.  The 
Inquisitor  did  then  ask  him  where  he 
saw  or  heard  this ;  and  he  answered  on 

the - day  of  the - month  in  the 

year - in  the  town  or  parish  of - 

He  asked  him  how  often  he  saw  or 
heard  it,  etc.  And  separate  articles  shall 
be  made,  and  the  whole  set  down  in 

firocess,  as  has  been  said.  And  particu- 
arly  he  shall  be  asked  who  shared  or 
could  share  in  his  knowledge  of  the  case. 

When  all  this  has  been  done,  he  shall 
finally  be  asked  whether  he  lays  his 


information  out  of  ill-will,  hatred,  or 
rancour ;  or  if  he  has  omitted  anything 
through  favour  or  love;  or  if  he  has 
been  requested  or  suborned  to  lay 
information. 

Finally,  he  shall  be  enjoined,  by 
virtue  of  his  oath,  to  keep  secret  what¬ 
ever  he  has  said  there,  or  whatever  the 
Judge  has  said  to  him;  and  the  whole 
process  shall  be  set  down  in  writing. 
And  when  all  this  is  completed,  it  shall 
be  set  down  a  little  lower  as  follows. 
This  was  done  at  such  a  place  on  the 

-  day  of  the  -  month  in  the 

year  - ,  in  the  presence  of  me  the 

Notary  or  scribe  together  with  those 
associated  with  me  in  the  duty  of 
writing,  and  of  such  and  such  witnesses 
summoned  and  interrogated. 

The  third  method  of  beginning  a 
process  is  the  commonest  and  most 
usual  one,  because  it  is  secret,  and  no 
accuser  or  informer  has  to  appear.  But 
when  there  is  a  general  report  of  witch¬ 
craft  in  some  town  or  parish,  because 
of  this  report  the  Judge  may  proceed 
without  a  general  citation  or  admoni¬ 
tion  as  above,  since  the  noise  of  that 
report  comes  often  to  his  ears ;  and  then 
again  he  can  begin  a  process  in  the 
presence  of  the  persons,  as  we  have  said 
before. 

In  the  Name  of  the  Lord .  Amen. 

In  the  year  of  Our  Lord - ,  on  the 

- day  of  the - month,  or  in - - 

months,  to  the  ears  of  such  and  such 
official  or  judge  there  came  a  persistent 
public  report  and  rumour  that  N.  of 

the  town  or  parish  of - did  or  said 

such  and  such  a  thing  savouring  of 
witchcraft,  against  the  faith  and  the 
common  good  of  the  State. 

And  the  whole  shall  be  set  down 
according  to  the  common  report.  And 
a  little  lower : 

The  case  was  heard  on  the - day 

of  the - month  in  the  year - ,  in 

the  presence  of  me  the  Notary  of  such 
and  such  authority,  or  of  such  and  such 
a  scribe,  and  of  such  and  such  witnesses 
who  were  called  and  interrogated. 

But  before  we  proceed  to  the  second 
Head,  which  deals  with  the  method  of 
conducting  this  sort  of  process,  we  must 
first  say  something  of  the  witnesses  who 
are  to  be  examined,  as  to  how  many 
they  should  be,  and  what  should  be 
their  condition. 

☆ 


208 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  2. 


QJJESTION  II 

Of  the  Number  of  the  Witnesses . 

SINCE  we  have  said  that  in  the 
second  method  the  evidence  of  the 
witnesses  is  to  be  written  down,  it  is 
necessary  to  know  how  many  witnesses 
there  should  be,  and  of  what  condition. 
The  question  is  whether  a  Judge  may 
lawfully  convict  any  person  of  the 
heresy  of  witchcraft  on  the  evidence  of 
two  legitimate  witnesses  whose  evidence 
is  entirely  concordant,  or  whether  more 
than  two  are  necessary.  And  we  say 
that  the  evidence  of  witnesses  is  not 
entirely  concordant  when  it  is  only 
partially  so ;  that  is,  when  two  witnesses 
differ  in  their  accounts,  but  agree  in  the 
substance  or  effect:  as  when  one  says, 
“  She  bewitched  my  cow,”  and  the 
other  says,  “  She  bewitched  my  child,” 
but  they  agree  as  to  the  fact  of  witch¬ 
craft. 

But  here  we  are  concerned  with  the 
case  of  two  witnesses  being  in  entire,  not 
partial,  agreement.  And  the  answer  is 
that,  although  two  witnesses  seem  to  be 
enough  to  satisfy  the  rigour  of  the  law 
(for  the  rule  is  that  that  which  is  sworn 
to  by  two  or  three  is  taken  for  the 
truth) ;  yet  in  a  charge  of  this  kind  two 
witnesses  do  not  seem  sufficient  to  en¬ 
sure  an  equitable  judgement,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  heinousness  of  the  crime 
in  question.  For  the  proof  of  an  accusa¬ 
tion  ought  to  be  clearer  than  day¬ 
light;  and  especially  ought  this  to  be 
so  in  the  case  of  the  grave  charge  of 
heresy. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  very  little 
proof  is  required  in  a  charge  of  this 
nature,  since  it  takes  very  little  argu¬ 
ment  to  expose  a  person’s  guilt;  for  it 
is  said  in  the  Canon  de  Haereticis ,  lib.  II, 
that  a  man  makes  himself  a  heretic  if  in 
the  least  of  his  opinions  he  wanders 
from  the  teaching  and  the  path  of  the 
Catholic  religion.  We  answer  that  this 
is  true  enough  with  reference  to  the 
presumption  that  a  person  is  a  heretic, 
but  not  as  regards  a  condemnation. 
For  in  a  charge  of  this  sort  the  usual 
order  of  judicial  procedure  is  cut  short, 
since  the  defendant  does  not  see  the 
witnesses  take  the  oath,  nor  are  they 
made  known  to  him,  because  this  might 
expose  them  to  grave  danger ;  therefore, 
according  to  the  statute,  the  prisoner 
is  not  permitted  to  know  who  are  his 
accusers.  But  the  Judge  himself  must, 


by  virtue  of  his  office,  inquire  into  any 
personal  enmity  felt  by  the  witnesses 
towards  the  prisoner;  and  such  wit¬ 
nesses  cannot  be  allowed,  as  will  be 
shown  later.  And  when  the  witnesses 
give  confused  evidence  on  account  of 
something  lying  on  their  conscience,  the 
Judge  is  empowered  to  put  them 
through  a  second  interrogatory.  For  the 
less  opportunity  the  prisoner  has  to  de¬ 
fend  himself,  the  more  carefully  and 
diligently  should  the  Judge  conduct  his 
inquiry. 

Therefore,  although  there  are  two 
legitimate  and  concordant  witnesses 
against  a  person,  even  so  I  do  not  allow 
that  this  would  be  sufficient  warrant  for 
a  Judge  to  condemn  a  person  on  so 
great  a  charge;  but  if  the  prisoner  is 
the  subject  of  an  evil  report,  a  period 
should  be  set  for  his  purgation ;  and  if 
he  is  under  strong  suspicion  on  account 
of  the  evidence  of  two  witnesses,  the 
Judge  should  make  him  abjure  the 
heresy,  or  question  him,  or  defer  his 
sentence.  For  it  does  not  seem  just  to 
condemn  a  man  of  good  name  on  so 
great  a  charge  on  the  evidence  of  only 
two  witnesses,  though  the  case  is  other¬ 
wise  with  a  person  of  bad  reputation. 
This  matter  is  fully  dealt  with  in  the 
Canon  Law  of  heretics,  where  it  is  set 
down  that  the  Bishop  shall  cause  three 
or  more  men  of  good  standing  to  give 
evidence  on  oath  to  speak  the  truth  as 
to  whether  they  have  any  knowledge 
of  the  existence  of  heretics  in  such  a 
parish. 

Again  it  may  be  asked  whether  the 
Judge  can  justly  condemn  a  person  of 
such  heresy  only  on  the  evidence  of 
witnesses  who  in  some  respects  differ  in 
their  evidence,  or  merely  on  the  strength 
of  a  general  accusation.  We  answer  that 
he  cannot  do  so  on  either  of  the  above 
grounds.  Especially  since  the  proofs  of 
a  charge  ought,  as  we  have  said,  to  be 
clearer  than  daylight;  and  in  this  par¬ 
ticular  charge  no  one  is  to  be  con¬ 
demned  on  merely  presumptive  evi¬ 
dence.  Therefore  in  the  case  of  a  pris¬ 
oner  who  is  the  subject  of  a  general 
accusation,  a  period  of  purgation  shall 
be  set  for  him ;  and  in  the  case  of  one 
who  is  under  strong  suspicion  arising 
from  the  evidence  of  witnesses,  he  shall 
be  made  to  abjure  his  heresy.  But  when, 
in  spite  of  certain  discrepancies,  the 
witnesses  agree  in  the  main  facts,  then 
the  matter  shall  rest  with  the  Judge’s 
discretion;  and  indirectly  the  question 


209 


Part  III.  Qns  3,  4,  5.  M  A  L  E  F 

arises  how  often  the  witnesses  can  be 
examined. 

☆ 

QJJESTION  III 

Of  the  Solemn  Adjuration  and  Re-examina- 
tion  of  Witnesses. 

BUT  it  may  be  asked  whether  the 
Judge  can  compel  witnesses  to 
swear  on  oath  to  tell  the  truth  in  a  case 
concerning  the  Faith  or  witches,  or  if 
he  can  examine  them  many  times.  We 
answer  that  he  can  do  so,  especially  an 
ecclesiastical  Judge,  and  that  in  eccle¬ 
siastical  cases  witnesses  can  be  com¬ 
pelled  to  speak  the  truth,  and  this  on 
oath,  since  otherwise  their  evidence 
would  not  be  valid.  For  the  Canon  Law 
says :  The  Archbishop  or  Bishop  may 
make  a  circuit  of  the  parish  in  which  it 
is  rumoured  that  there  are  heretics,  and 
compel  three  or  more  men  of  good  re¬ 
pute,  or  even,  if  it  seems  good  to  him, 
the  whole  neighbourhood,  to  give  evi¬ 
dence.  And  if  any  through  damnable 
obstinacy  stubbornly  refuse  to  take  the 
oath,  they  shall  on  that  account  be 
considered  as  heretics. 

And  that  the  witnesses  can  be  exam¬ 
ined  several  times  is  shown  by  the 
Canon,  where  it  says  that,  when  the 
witnesses  have  given  their  evidence  in  a 
confused  manner,  or  appear  to  have 
withheld  part  of  their  knowledge  for 
some  reason,  the  Judge  must  take  care 
to  examine  them  afresh;  for  he  may 
legally  do  so. 

☆ 

QUESTION  IV 

Of  the  Quality  and  Condition  of  Witnesses. 

NOTE  that  persons  under  a  sen¬ 
tence  of  excommunication,  asso¬ 
ciates  and  accomplices  in  the  crime, 
notorious  evildoers  and  criminals,  or 
servants  giving  evidence  against  their 
masters,  are  admitted  as  witnesses  in  a 
case  concerning  the  Faith.  And  just  as 
a  heretic  may  give  evidence  against  a 
heretic,  so  may  a  witch  against  a  witch ; 
but  this  only  in  default  of  other  proofs, 
and  such  evidence  can  only  be  admitted 
for  the  prosecution  and  not  for  the  de¬ 
fence  :  this  is  true  also  of  the  evidence 
of  the  prisoner’s  wife,  sons  and  kindred ; 
for  the  evidence  of  such  has  more  weight 


GARUM 

in  proving  a  charge  than  in  disprov¬ 
ing  it. 

This  is  made  clear  in  the  c.  in  fidei  de 
haer .,  where  it  says :  As  a  protection  of 
the  faith  we  allow  that  m  a  case  of 
inquiry  into  the  sin  of  heresy,  persons 
under  excommunication  and  partners 
and  accomplices  in  the  crime  shall  be 
admitted  as  witnesses,  in  default  of  other 
proofs  against  heretics  and  their  patrons, 
protectors  and  defenders ;  provided  that 
it  appears  probable  both  from  the  num¬ 
ber  of  the  witnesses  and  of  those  against 
whom  they  give  evidence,  and  from 
other  circumstances,  that  they  are  not 
giving  false  testimony. 

The  case  of  evidence  given  by  per¬ 
jurers,  when  it  is  presumed  that  they 
are  speaking  out  of  zeal  for  the  faith,  is 
dealt  with  in  the  Canon  c.  accusatust 
§  licet y  where  it  says  that  the  evidence 
of  perjurers,  after  they  have  repented, 
is  admissible;  and  it  goes  on  to  say: 
If  it  manifestly  appears  that  they  do 
not  speak  in  a  spirit  of  levity,  or  from 
motives  of  enmity,  or  by  reason  of  a 
bribe,  but  purely  out  of  zeal  for  the 
orthodox  faith,  wishing  to  correct  what 
they  have  said,  or  to  reveal  something 
about  which  they  had  kept  silence,  in 
defence  of  the  faith,  their  testimony 
shall  be  as  valid  as  that  of  anyone  else, 
provided  that  there  is  no  other  objection 
to  it. 

And  it  is  clear  from  the  same  chapter 
of  the  Canon  that  the  testimony  of  men 
of  low  repute  and  criminals,  and  of 
servants  against  their  masters,  is  ad¬ 
mitted;  for  it  says:  So  great  is  the 
plague  of  heresy  that,  in  an  action  in¬ 
volving  this  crime,  even  servants  are 
admitted  as  witnesses  against  their  mas¬ 
ters,  and  any  criminal  evildoer  may 
give  evidence  against  any  person  soever. 

☆ 

QJJESTION  V 

Whether  Mortal  Enemies  may  be  Admitted 
as  Witnesses. 

BUT  if  it  is  asked  whether  the  Judge 
can  admit  the  mortal  enemies  of 
the  prisoner  to  give  evidence  against 
him  in  such  a  case,  we  answer  that  he 
cannot;  for  the  same  chapter  of  the 
Canon  says :  You  must  not  understand 
that  in  this  kind  of  charge  a  mortal 
personal  enemy  may  be  admitted  to  give 
evidence.  Henry  of  Segusio  also  makes 


210 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  6. 


this  quite  clear.  But  it  is  mortal  enemies 
that  are  spoken  of ;  and  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  a  witness  is  not  necessarily  to  be 
disqualified  because  of  every  sort  of 
enmity.  And  a  mortal  enmity  is  con¬ 
stituted  by  the  following  circumstances : 
when  there  is  a  death  feud  or  vendetta 
between  the  parties,  or  when  there  has 
been  an  attempted  homicide,  or  some 
serious  wound  or  injury  which  mani¬ 
festly  shows  that  there  is  mortal  hatred 
on  the  part  of  the  witness  against  the 
prisoner.  And  in  such  a  case  it  is  pre¬ 
sumed  that,  just  as  the  witness  has  tried 
to  inflict  temporal  death  on  the  prisoner 
by  wounding  him,  so  he  will  also  be 
willing  to  effect  his  object  by  accusing 
him  of  heresy ;  and  just  as  he  wished  to 
take  away  his  life,  so  he  would  be  willing 
to  take  away  his  good  name.  Therefore 
the  evidence  of  such  mortal  enemies  is 
justly  disqualified. 

But  there  are  other  serious  degrees  of 
enmity  (for  women  are  easily  provoked 
to  hatred),  which  need  not  totally  dis¬ 
qualify  a  witness,  although  they  render 
his  evidence  very  doubtful,  so  that  full 
credence  cannot  be  placed  in  his  words 
unless  they  are  substantiated  by  inde¬ 
pendent  proofs,  and  other  witnesses 
supply  an  indubitable  proof  of  them. 
For  the  Judge  must  ask  the  prisoner 
whether  he  thinks  that  he  has  any 
enemy  who  would  dare  to  accuse  him 
of  that  crime  out  of  hatred,  so  that  he 
might  compass  his  death ;  and  if  he  says 
that  he  has,  he  shall  ask  who  that  person 
is ;  and  then  the  Judge  shall  take  note 
whether  the  person  named  as  being 
likely  to  give  evidence  from  motives  of 
malice  has  actually  done  so.  And  if  it 
is  found  that  this  is  the  case,  and  the 
Judge  has  learned  from  trustworthy 
men  the  cause  of  that  enmity,  and  if 
the  evidence  in  question  is  not  substan¬ 
tiated  by  other  proofs  and  the  words  of 
other  witnesses,  then  he  may  safely  re¬ 
ject  such  evidence.  But  if  the  prisoner 
says  that  he  hopes  he  has  no  such 
enemy,  but  admits  that  he  has  had 
quarrels  with  women ;  or  if  he  says  that 
he  has  an  enemy,  but  names  someone 
who,  perhaps,  has  not  given  evidence, 
in  that  case,  even  if  other  witnesses  say 
that  such  a  person  has  given  evidence 
from  motives  of  enmity,  the  Judge  must 
not  reject  his  evidence,  but  admit  it 
together  with  the  other  proofs. 

There  are  many  who  are  not  suffi¬ 
ciently  careful  and  circumspect,  and 
consider  that  the  depositions  of  such 


quarrelsome  women  should  be  alto¬ 
gether  rejected,  saying  that  no  faith  can 
be  placed  in  them,  since  they  are  nearly 
always  actuated  by  motives  of  hatred. 
Such  men  are  ignorant  of  the  subdety 
and  precautions  of  magistrates,  and 
speak  and  judge  like  men  who  are 
colour-blind.  But  these  precautions  are 
dealt  with  in  Questions  XI  and  XII. 

☆ 

THE  SECOND  HEAD 
QUESTION  VI 

How  the  Trial  is  to  be  Proceeded  with  and 
Continued.  And  how  the  Witnesses  are 
to  be  Examined  in  the  Presence  of  Four 
Other  Persons ,  and  how  the  Accused  is 
to  be  Questioned  in  Two  Ways. 

IN  considering  the  method  of  pro¬ 
ceeding  with  a  trial  of  a  witch  in  the 
cause  of  the  faith,  it  must  first  be  noted 
that  such  cases  must  be  conducted  in 
the  simplest  and  most  summary  man¬ 
ner,  without,  the  arguments  and  con¬ 
tentions  of  advocates. 

This  is  explained  in  the  Canon  as 
follows :  It  often  happens  that  we  insti¬ 
tute  a  criminal  process,  and  order  it  to 
be  conducted  in  a  simple  straightfor¬ 
ward  manner  without  the  legal  quibbles 
and  contentions  which  are  introduced 
in  other  cases.  Now  much  doubt  has 
been  experienced  as  to  the  meaning  of 
these  words,  and  as  to  exacdy  in  what 
manner  such  cases  should  be  con¬ 
ducted  ;  but  we,  desiring  as  far  as  pos¬ 
sible  to  remove  all  doubt  on  the  matter, 
sanction  the  following  procedure  once 
and  for  all  as  valid :  The  Judge  to  whom 
we  commit  such  a  case  need  not  require 
any  writ,  or  demand  that  the  action 
should  be  contested;  he  may  conduct 
the  case  on  holidays  for  the  sake  of  the 
convenience  of  the  public ;  he  should 
shorten  the  conduct  of  the  case  as  much 
as  he  can  by  disallowing  all  dilatory 
exceptions,  appeals  and  obstructions, 
the  impertinent  contentions  of  pleaders 
and  advocates,  and  the  quarrels  of  wit¬ 
nesses,  and  by  restraining  the  super¬ 
fluous  number  of  witnesses ;  but  not  in 
such  a  way  as  to  neglect  the  necessary 
proofs;  and  we  do  not  mean  by  this 
that  he  should  omit  the  citation  of  and 
swearing  of  witnesses  to  tell  and  not  to 
hide  the  truth. 

And  since,  as  we  have  shown,  the 


21 1 


Part  III.  Question  6.  M  A  L  E  F 

process  is  to  be  conducted  in  a  simple 
manner,  and  it  is  initiated  either  at  the 
instance  of  an  accuser,  or  of  an  informer 
actuated  by  zeal,  or  by  reason  of  a 
general  outcry  and  rumour;  therefore 
the  Judge  should  try  to  avoid  the  first 
method  of  beginning  the  action, 
namely,  at  the  instance  of  an  accusing 
party.  For  the  deeds  of  witches  in  con¬ 
junction  with  devils  are  done  in  secret, 
and  the  accuser  cannot  in  this  case,  as 
in  others,  have  definite  evidence  by 
which  he  can  make  his  statements  good ; 
therefore  the  Judge  ought  to  advise  the 
accuser  to  set  aside  his  formal  accusa¬ 
tion  and  to  speak  rather  as  an  informer, 
because  of  the  grave  danger  that  is  in¬ 
curred  by  an  accuser.  And  so  he  can 
proceed  in  the  second  manner,  which 
is  commonly  used,  and  likewise  in  the 
third  manner,  in  which  the  process  is 
begun  not  at  the  instance  of  any  party. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  we  have  already 
said  that  the  Judge  ought  particularly 
to  ask  the  informer  who  shares  or  could 
share  in  his  knowledge  of  the  case. 
Accordingly  the  Judge  should  call  as 
witnesses  those  whom  the  informer 
names,  who  seem  to  have  most  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  matter,  and  their  names 
shall  be  entered  by  the  scribe.  After 
this  the  Judge,  having  regard  to  the 
fact  that  the  aforesaid  denunciation  of 
heresy  involves  of  its  very  nature  such 
a  grave  charge  that  it  cannot  and  must 
not  be  lightly  passed  over,  since  to  do 
so  would  imply  an  offence  to  the  Divine 
Majesty  and  an  injury  to  the  Catholic 
Faith  and  to  the  State,  shall  proceed  to 
inform  himself  and  examine  the  wit¬ 
nesses  in  the  following  manner. 

Examination  of  Witnesses. 

The  witness  N.,  of  such  a  place,  was 
called,  sworn,  and  questioned  whether 
he  knew  N.  (naming  the  accused),  and 
answered  that  he  did.  Asked  how  he 
knew  him,  he  answered  that  he  had  seen 
and  spoken  with  him  on  several  occa¬ 
sions,  or  that  they  had  been  comrades 
(so  explaining  his  reason  for  knowing 
him).  Asked  for  how  long  he  had 
known  him,  he  answered,  for  ten  or  for 
so  many  years.  Asked  concerning  his 
reputation,  especially  in  matters  con¬ 
cerning  the  faith,  he  answered  that  in 
his  morals  he  was  a  good  (or  bad)  man, 
but  with  regard  to  his  faith,  there  was 
a  report  in  such  a  place  that  he  used 
certain  practices  contrary  to  the  Faith, 


CARUM 

as  a  witch.  Asked  what  was  the  report, 
he  made  answer.  Asked  whether  he  had 
seen  or  heard  him  doing  such  things, 
he  again  answered  accordingly.  Asked 
where  he  had  heard  him  use  such 
words,  he  answered,  in  such  a  place. 
Asked  in  whose  presence,  he  answered, 
in  the  presence  of  such  and  such. 

Further,  he  was  asked  whether  any 
of  the  accused’s  kindred  had  formerly 
been  burned  as  witches,  or  had  been 
suspected,  and  he  answered.  Asked 
whether  he  associated  with  suspected 
witches,  he  answered.  Asked  concern¬ 
ing  the  manner  and  reason  of  the 
accused’s  alleged  words,  he  answered, 
for  such  a  reason  and  in  such  a  manner. 
Asked  whether  he  thought  that  the 
prisoner  had  used  those  words  care¬ 
lessly,  unmeaningly  and  thoughtlessly, 
or  rather  with  deliberate  intention,  he 
answered  that  he  had  used  them  jok¬ 
ingly  or  in  temper,  or  without  meaning 
or  believing  what  he  said,  or  else  with 
deliberate  intention. 

Asked  further  how  he  could  distin¬ 
guish  the  accused’s  motive,  he  answered 
that  he  knew  it  because  he  had  spoken 
with  a  laugh. 

This  is  a  matter  which  must  be  in¬ 
quired  into  very  diligently;  for  very 
often  people  use  words  quoting  someone 
else,  or  merely  in  temper,  or  as  a  test 
of  the  opinions  of  other  people;  al¬ 
though  sometimes  they  are  used  asser¬ 
tively  with  definite  intention. 

He  was  further  asked  whether  he 
made  this  deposition  out  of  hatred  or 
rancour,  or  whether  he  had  suppressed 
anything  out  of  favour  or  love,  and  he 
answered,  etc.  Following  this,  he  was 
enjoined  to  preserve  secrecy.  This  was 
done  at  such  a  place  on  such  a  day  in 
the  presence  of  such  witnesses  called 
and  questioned,  and  of  me  the  Notary 
or  scribe. 

Here  it  must  always  be  noted  that  in 
such  an  examination  at  least  five  per¬ 
sons  must  be  present,  namely,  the  pre¬ 
siding  Judge,  the  witness  or  informer, 
the  respondent  or  accused,  who  appears 
afterwards,  and  the  third  is  the  Notary 
or  scribe :  where  there  is  no  Notary  the 
scribe  shall  co-opt  another  honest  man, 
and  these  two,  as  has  been  said,  shall 
perform  the  duties  of  the  Notary;  and 
this  is  provided  for  by  Apostolic  author¬ 
ity,  as  was  shown  above,  that  in  this 
kind  of  action  two  honest  men  should 
perform  as  it  were  the  duty  of  witnesses 
of  the  depositions. 


212 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  6. 


Also  it  must  be  noted  that  when  a 
witness  is  called  he  must  also  be  sworn, 
that  is,  he  must  take  the  oath  in  the 
manner  we  have  shown;  otherwise  he 
would  falsely  be  described  as  called  and 
sworn. 

In  the  same  way  the  other  witnesses 
are  to  be  examined.  And  after  this  the 
Judge  shall  decide  whether  the  fact  is 
fully  proven ;  and  if  not  fully,  whether 
there  are  great  indications  and  strong 
suspicions  of  its  truth.  Observe  that  we 
do  not  speak  of  a  light  suspicion,  arising 
from  slight  conjectures,  but  of  a  per¬ 
sistent  report  that  the  accused  has 
worked  witchcraft  upon  children  or 
animals,  etc.  Then,  if  the  Judge  fears 
the  escape  of  the  accused,  he  shall  cause 
him  or  her  to  be  placed  in  custody; 
but  if  he  does  not  fear  his  escape,  he 
shall  have  him  called  for  examination. 
But  whether  or  not  he  places  him  in 
custody,  he  shall  first  cause  his  house  to 
be  searched  unexpectedly,  and  all  chests 
to  be  opened  and  all  boxes  in  the 
corners,  and  all  implements  of  witch¬ 
craft  which  are  found  to  be  taken  away. 
And  having  done  this,  the  Judge  shall 
compare  together  everything  of  which 
he  has  been  accused,  and  everything  of 
which  he  has  been  convicted  or  sus¬ 
pected  by  the  evidence  of  witnesses,  and 
conduct  an  interrogatory  on  them,  hav¬ 
ing  with  him  a  Notary,  etc.,  as  above, 
and  having  caused  the  accused  to  swear 
by  the  four  Gospels  of  God  to  speak  the 
truth  concerning  both  himself  and 
others.  And  they  shall  all  be  written 
down  in  this  following  manner. 

The  General  Examination  of  a  Witch  or 
Wizard:  and  it  is  the  First  Action. 

The  accused  N.  of  such  a  place  was 
sworn  by  personally  touching  the  four 
Gospels  of  God  to  speak  the  truth  con¬ 
cerning  both  himself  and  others,  and 
was  then  asked  whence  he  was  and  from 
where  he  originated.  And  he  answered, 
from  such  a  place  in  such  a  Diotese. 
Asked  who  were  his  parents,  and 
whether  they  were  alive  or  dead,  he 
answered  that  they  were  alive  in  such 
a  place,  or  dead  in  such  a  place. 

Asked  whether  they  died  a  natural 
death,  or  were  burned,  he  answered  in 
such  a  way.  (Here  note  that  this  ques¬ 
tion  is  put  because,  as  was  shown  in  the 
Second  Part  of  this  work,  witches  gener¬ 
ally  offer  or  devote  their  own  children 
to  devils,  and  commonly  their  whole 


progeny  is  infected ;  and  when  the  in¬ 
former  has  deposed  to  this  effect,  and 
the  witch  herself  has  denied  it,  it  lays 
her  open  to  suspicion.) 

Asked  where  he  was  brought  up,  and 
where  he  chiefly  lived,  he  answered,  in 
such  or  such  a  place.  And  if  it  appears 
that  he  has  changed  his  abode  because, 
perhaps,  his  mother  or  any  of  his  kin¬ 
dred  was  not  suspected,  and  had  lived 
in  foreign  districts,  especially  in  such 
places  as  are  most  frequented  by 
witches,  he  shall  be  questioned  accord¬ 
ingly. 

Asked  why  he  had  moved  from  his 
birthplace  and  gone  to  live  in  such  or 
such  a  place,  he  answered,  for  such  a 
reason.  Asked  whether  in  those  said 
places  or  elsewhere  he  had  heard  any 
talk  of  witches,  as,  for  example,  the 
stirring  up  of  tempests,  the  bewitching 
of  cattle,  the  depriving  of  cows  of  their 
milk,  or  any  such  matter  of  which  he 
was  accused ;  if  he  should  answer  that 
he  had,  he  must  be  asked  what  he  had 
heard,  and  all  that  he  says  must  be 
written  down.  But  if  he  denies  it,  and 
says  that  he  has  heard  nothing,  then  he 
must  be  asked  whether  he  believes  that 
there  are  such  things  as  witches,  and 
that  such  things  as  were  mentioned 
could  be  done,  as  that  tempests  could 
be  raised  or  men  and  animals  be¬ 
witched.  '  l 

Note  that  for  the  most  part  witches 
deny  this  at  first;  and  therefore  this 
engenders  a  greater  suspicion  than  if 
they  were  to  answer  that  they  left  it  to  a 
superior  judgement  to  say  whether  there 
were  such  or  not.  So  if  they  deny  it, 
they  must  be  questioned  as  follows: 
Then  are  they  innocently  condemned 
when  they  are  burned?  And  he  or  she 
rm/st  answer. 

The  Particular  Examination  of  the  Same. 

Let  the  Judge  take  care  not  to  delay 
the  following  questions,  but  to  proceed 
at  once  with  them.  Let  her  be  asked 
why  the  common  people  fear  her,  and 
whether  she  knows  that  she  is  defamed 
and  hated,  and  why  she  had  threatened 
such  a  person,  saying,  “You  shall  not 
cross  me  with  impunity,”  and  let  her 
answers  be  noted. 

Then  let  her  be  asked  what  harm  that 
person  had  done  her,  that  she  should 
have  used  such  words  to  threaten  him 
with  injury.  And  note  that  this  ques¬ 
tion  is  necessary  in  order  to  arrive  at 


Part  III.  Question  7.  M  A  L  E  F 

the  cause  of  their  enmity,  for  in  the  end 
the  accused  will  allege  that  the  informer 
has  spoken  out  of  enmity;  but  when 
this  is  not  mortal,  but  only  a  womanish 
i  quarrel,  it  is  no  impediment.  For  this 
/  is  a  common  custom  of  witches,  to  stir 
up  enmity  against  themselves  by  some 
word  or  action,  as,  for  example,  to  ask 
someone  to  lend  them  something  or  else 
they  will  damage  his  garden,  or  some- 
thing  of  that  sort,  in  order  to  make  an 
occasion  for  deeds  of  witchcraft;  and 
they  manifest  themselves  either  in  word 
or  in  action,  since  they  are  compelled 
to  do  so  at  the  instance  of  the  devils, 
so  that  in  this  way  the  sins  of  Judges 
are  aggravated  while  the  witch  remains 
unpunished. 

For  note  that  they  do  not  do  such 
things  in  the  presence  of  others,  so  that 
if  the  informer  wishes  to  produce  wit¬ 
nesses  he  cannot  do  so.  Note  again  that 
\  they  are  spurred  on  by  the  devils,  as  we 
have  learned  from  many  witches  who 
have  afterwards  been  burned;  so  that 
often  they  have  to  work  witchcraft 
against  their  own  wills. 

Further,  she  was  asked  how  the  effect 
could  follow  from  those  threats,  as  that 
a  child  or  animal  should  so  quickly  be 
bewitched,  and  she  answered.  Asked, 
“Why  did  you  say  that  he  would  never 
know  a  day  of  health,  and  it  was  so?” 
she  answered.  And  if  she  denies  every¬ 
thing»  let  her  be  asked  concerning  other 
bewitchments,  alleged  by  other  wit¬ 
nesses,  upon  cattle  or  children.  Asked 
why  she  was  seen  in  the  fields  or  in  the 
stable  with  the  cattle,  and  touching 
them,  as  is  sometimes  their  custom,  she 
answered. 

Asked  why  she  touched  a  child,  and 
afterwards  it  fell  sick,  she  answered. 
Also  she  was  asked  what  she  did  in  the 
fields  at  the  time  of  a  tempest,  and  so 
with  many  other- matters.  Again,  why, 
having  one  or  two  cows,  she  had  more 
milk  than  her  neighbours  who  had  four 
or  six.  Again,  let  her  be  asked  why  she 
persists  in  a  state  of  adultery  or  con¬ 
cubinage;  for  although  this  is  beside 
the  point,  yet  such  questions  engender 
more  suspicion  than  would  be  the  case 
with  a  chaste  and  honest  woman  who 
stood  accused. 

And  note  that  she  is  to  be  continually 
questioned  as  to  the  depositions  which 
have  been  laid  against  her,  to  see 
whether  she  always  returns  the  same 
answers  or  not.  And  when  this  exam¬ 
ination  has  been  completed,  whether 


GARUM  213 

her  answers  have  been  negative,  or 
affirmative,  or  ambiguous,  let  them  be 
written  down :  Executed  in  such  a  place, 
etc.,  as  above. 

☆  «. 

QJJESTION  VII 

In  Which  Various  Doubts  are  Set  Forth  with 
Regard  to  the  Foregoing  Questions  and 
Negative  Answers.  Whether  the  Accused 
is  to  be  Imprisoned ,  and  when  she  is  to 
be  considered  as  Manifestly  Taken  in  the 
Foul  Heresy  of  Witchcraft.  This  is  the 
Second  Action. 

IT  is  asked  first  what  is  to  be  done  \ 
when,  as  often  happens,  the  accused 
denies  everything.  We  answer  that  the 
Judge  has  three  points  to  consider, 
namely,  her  bad  reputation,  the  evi¬ 
dence  of  the  fact,  and  the  words  of  the 
witnesses ;  and  he  must  see  whether  all 
these  agree  together.  And  if,  as  very 
often  is  the  case,  they  do  not  altogether 
agree  together,  since,  witches  are  vari¬ 
ously  accused  of  different  deeds  com¬ 
mitted  in  some  village  or  town ;  but  the 
evidences  of  the  fact  are  visible  to  the 
eye,  as  that  a  child  has  been  harmed  by 
sorcery,  or,  more  often,  a  beast  has  been 
bewitched  or  deprived  of  its  milk ;  and 
if  a  number  of  witnesses  have  come 
forward  whose  evidence,  even  if  it  show 
certain  discrepancies  (as  that  one  should 
say  she  had  bewitched  his  child,  another 
his  beast,  and  a  third  should  merely 
witness  to  her  reputation,  and  so  with 
the  others),  but  nevertheless  agree  in 
the  substance  of  the  fact,  that  is,  as  to 
the  witchcraft,  and  that  she  is  suspected 
of  being  a  witch ;  although  those  wit¬ 
nesses  are  not  enough  to  warrant  a  con¬ 
viction  without  the  fact  of  the  general 
report,  or  even  with  that  fact,  as  was 
shown  above  at  the  end  of  Question  III, 
yet,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the 
visible  and  tangible  evidence  of  the  fact, 
the  Judge  may,  in  consideration  of  these 
three  points  together,  decide  that  the 
accused  is  to  be  reputed,  not  as  strongly 
or  gravely  under  suspicion  (which  sus¬ 
picions  will  be  explained  later),  but  as 
manifestly  taken  in  the  heresy  of  witch¬ 
craft;  provided,  that  is,  that  the  wit¬ 
nesses  are  of  a  suitable  condition  and 
have  not  given  evidence  out  of  enmity, 
and  that  a  sufficient  number  of  them, 
say  six  or  eight  or  ten,  have  agreed 
together  on  oath.  And  then,  according 
to  the  Canon  Law,  he  must  subject  her 


214 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  8. 


to  punishment,  whether  she  has  con¬ 
fessed  her  crime  or  not.  And  this  is 
proved  as  follows. 

For  since  it  is  said,  that  when  all 
three  of  the  above  considerations  are  in 
agreement,  then  she  should  be  thought 
to  be  manifestly  taken  in  heresy,  it  must 
not  be  understood  that  it  is  necessary 
for  all  three  to  be  in  agreement,  but 
only  that  if  this  is  the  case  the  proof  is 
all  the  stronger.  For  either  one  instance 
by  itself  of  the  following  two  circum¬ 
stances,  namely,  the  evidence  of  the 
fact  and  the  production  of  legitimate 
witnesses,  is  sufficient  to  cause  a  person 
to  be  reputed  as  manifestly  taken  in 
heresy;  and  all  the  more  when  both 
these  considerations  are  in  agreement. 

For  when  the  Jurists  ask  in  how  many 
ways  a  person  may  be  considered  as 
manifestly  taken  in  heresy,  we  answer 
that  there  are  three  ways,  as  S.  Bernard 
has  explained.  This  matter  was  treated 
of  above  in  the  First  Question  at  the 
beginning  of  this  work,  namely,  the 
evidence  of  the  fact,  when  a  person  has 
publicly  preached  heresy.  But  here  we 
consider  the  evidence  of  the  fact  pro¬ 
vided  by  public  threats  uttered  by  the 
accused,  as  when  she  said,  “You  shall 
have  no  healthy  days,”  or  some  such 
thing,  and  the  threatened  effect  has 
followed.  The  other  two  ways  are  the 
legitimate  proof  of  the  case  by  witnesses, 
and  thirdly  her  own  confession.  There¬ 
fore,  if  each  of  these  singly  is  sufficient 
to  cause  a  person  to  be  manifestly  sus¬ 
pected,  how  much  more  is  this  the  case 
when  the  reputation  of  the  accused,  the 
evidence  of  the  fact,  and  the  depositions 
of  witnesses  all  together  point  to  the 
same  conclusion.  It  is  true  that  S.  Ber¬ 
nard  speaks  of  an  evident  fact,  and  we 
here  speak  of  the  evidence  of  the  fact ; 
but  this  is  because  the  devil  does  not 
work  openly,  but  secretly.  Therefore 
the  injuries  and  the  instruments  of 
witchcraft  which  are  found  constitute 
the  evidence  of  the  fact.  And  whereas 
in  other  heresies  an  evident  fact  is  alone 
sufficient,  here  we  join  three  proofs 
together. 

Secondly,  it  is  thus  proved  that  a  per¬ 
son  so  taken  is  to  be  punished  according 
to  the  law,  even  though  she  denies  the 
accusation.  For  a  person  taken  on  the 
evidence  of  the  fact,  or  on  the  deposi¬ 
tions  of  witnesses,  either  confesses  the 
crime  or  does  not.  If  he  confesses  and 
is  impenitent,  he  is  to  be  handed  over  to 
the  secular  court  to  suffer  the  extreme 


penalty,  according  to  the  chapter  ad 
abolendam ,  or  he  is  to  be  imprisoned  for 
life,  according  to  the  chapter  excom¬ 
municamus.  But  if  he  does  not  confess, 
and  stoutly  maintains  his  denial,  he  is 
to  be  delivered  as  an  impenitent  to  the 
power  of  the  Civil  Court  to  be  punished 
in  a  fitting  manner,  as  Henry  of  Segusio 
shows  in  his  Summa ,  where  he  treats  of  the 
manner  of  proceeding  against  heretics. 

It  is  therefore  concluded  that  it  is 
most  just  if  the  Judge  proceeds  in  that 
manner  with  his  questions  and  the 
depositions  of  witnesses,  since,  as  has 
been  said,  he  can  in  a  case  concerning 
the  Faith  conduct  matters  quite  plainly 
and  in  a  short  and  summary  manner ; 
and  it  is  meet  that  he  should  consign 
the  accused  to  prison  for  a  time,  or  for 
several  years,  in  case  perhaps,  being 
depressed  after  a  year  of  the  squalor  of 
prison,  she  may  confess  her  crimes. 

But,  lest  it  should  seem  that  he  arrives 
at  his  sentence  precipitately,  and  to  show 
that  he  proceeds  with  all  equity,  let  us 
inquire  into  what  should  next  be  done. 

☆ 

QUESTION  VIII 

Which  Follows  from  the  Preceding  Question , 

’ Whether  the  Witch  is  to  be  Imprisoned , 
and  of  the  Method  of  Taking  her.  This 
is  the  Third  Action  of  the  Judge. 

IT  is  asked  whether,  after  she  has 
denied  the  accusation,  the  witch 
ought  to  be  kept  in  custody  in  prison, 
when  the  three  aforesaid  conditions, 
namely,  her  reputation,  the  evidence  of 
the  fact,  and  the  depositions  of  wit¬ 
nesses,  are  in  agreement;  or  whether 
she  should  be  dismissed  with  the  secur¬ 
ity  of  sureties,  so  that  she  may  again 
be  called  and  questioned.  As  to  this 
question  there  are  three  opinions. 

First,  it  is  the  opinion  of  some  that 
she  should  be  sent  to  prison,  and  that 
by  no  means  ought  she  to  be  dismissed 
under  bond ;  and  they  hold  this  opinion 
on  the  strength  of  the  reasoning  brought 
forward  in  the  preceding  question, 
namely,  that  she  is  to  be  considered  as 
manifestly  guilty  when  all  those  three 
considerations  are  in  agreement. 

Others,  again,  think  that  before  she  is 
imprisoned  she  may  be  dismissed  with 
the  safeguard  of  sureties ;  so  that  if  she 
makes  her  escape,  she  can  then  be  con¬ 
sidered  as  convicted.  But  after  she  has 


Part  III.  Question  8.  MALEFICARUM 


215 


I  ; 


been  imprisoned  because  of  her  nega¬ 
tive  answers,  she  is  not  to  be  released 
under  any  safeguard  or  condition  of 
bail,  that  is,  when  those  three  con¬ 
siderations  noted  above  are  in  agree¬ 
ment;  because  in  that  case  she  could 
not .  subsequently  be  sentenced  and 
punished  by  death ;  and  this,  they  say, 
is  the  general  custom. 

The  third  opinion  is  that  no  definite 
rule  can  be  given,  but  that  it  must  be 
left  to  the  Judge  to  act  in  accordance 
with  the  gravity  of  the  matter  as  shown 
by  the  testimony  of  the  witnesses,  the 
reputation  of  the  accused,  and  the 
evidence  as  to  the  fact,  and  the  extent 
to  which  these  three  agree  with  each 
other ;  and  that  he  should  follow  the 
custom  of  the  country.  And  they  who 
hold  this  opinion  conclude  by  saying 
that  if  reputable  and  responsible  sureties 
are  not  to  be  procured,  and  the  accused 
is  suspected  of  contemplating  flight,  she 
should  then  be  cast  into  prison.  And 
this  third  opinion  seems  to  be  the  most 
reasonable,  as  long  as  the  correct  pro¬ 
cedure  is  observed ;  and  this  consists'  in 
three  things. 

First,  that  her  house  should  be 
searched*  as  thoroughly  as  possible,  in 
all  holes  and  corners  and  chests,  top 
and  bottom ;  and  if  she  is  a  noted  witch, 
then  without  doubt,  unless  she  has  pre¬ 
viously  hidden  them,  there  will  be  found 
various  instruments  of  witchcraft,  as  we 
have  shown  above. 

Secondly,  if  she  has  a  maid-servant 
or  companions,  that  she  or  they  should 
be  shut  up  by  themselves;  for  though 
they  are  not  accused,  yet  it  is  presumed 
that  none  of  the  accused’s  secrets  are 
hidden  from  them. 

Thirdly,  in  taking  her,  if  she  be  taken 
in  her  own  house,  let  her  not  be  given 

*  “ House  should  be  searched .”  Thus  in  the 
famous  witch  trial  of  Dame  Alice  Kyteler  and 
her  coven  before  the  Bishop  of  Ossory  in  1324, 
John  le  Poer ,  the  husband  of  Dame  Alice \ 
deposed  that  in  her  closet  were  discovered 
mysterious  vials  and  elixirs ,  strange  necromantic 
instruments  and  ghastly  relics  of  mortality  which 
she  used  in  her  horrid  craft.  Holinshed  in  his 
“ Chronicle  of  Ireland ”  ( London ,  1387,  p.  33), 
sub  anno  1323,  has:  “In  rifling  the  closet  of  the 
ladie,  they  found  a  wafer  of  sacramental  bread , 
having  the  divels  name  stamped  thereon  in  steed  of 
JES  U S  Christ ,  and  a  pipe  of  ointment ,  wherewith 
she  greased  a  stafl'e ,  upon  which  she  ambled  and 
gallopped  thorough  thicke  and  thin  when  and  in 
what  manner  she  listed See  my  “Geoerabhy  of 
Witchcraft  Chap .  //,  pp.  83-31. 


time  to  go  into  her  room ;  for  they  are 
wont  to  secure  in  this  way,  and  bring 
away  with  them,  some  object  or  power 
of  witchcraft  which  procures  them  the 
faculty  of  keeping  silent  under  exam¬ 
ination. 

This  gives  rise  to  the  question  whether 
the  method  employed  by  some  to  cap¬ 
ture  a  witch  is  lawful,  namely,  that  she 
should  be  lifted  from  the  ground  by  the 
officers,  and  carried  out  in  a  basket  or 
on  a  plank  of  wood  so  that  she  cannot 
again  touch  the  ground.  This  can  be 
answered  by  the  opinion  of  the  Canon¬ 
ists  and  of  certain  Theologians,  that  this 
is  lawful  in  three  respects.  First,  because, 
as  is  shown  in  the  introductory  question 
°f  this  Third  Part,  it  is  clear  from  the 
opinion  of  many  authorities,  and  especi¬ 
ally  of  such  Doctors  as  no  one  would 
dare  to  dispute,  as  Duns  Scotus,  Henry 
of  Segusio  and  Godfrey  of  Fontaines, 
that  it  is  lawful  to  oppose  vanity  with 
vanity.  Also  we  know  from  experience  \ 
and  the  confessions  of  witches  that  when 
they  are  taken  in  this  manner  they  more 
often  lose  the  power  of  keeping  silence 
under  examination :  indeed  many  who 
have  been  about  to  be  burned  have 
asked  that  they  might  be  allowed  at 
least  to  touch  the  ground  with  one  foot ; 
and  when  this  has  been  denied  them 
and  they  have  been  asked  why  they 
made  such  a  request,  they  have  an¬ 
swered  that  if  they  had  touched  the 
ground  they  would  have  liberated 
themselves,  striking  many  other  people 
dead  with  lightning. 

The  second  reason  is  this.  It  was 
manifestly  shown  in  the  Second  Part 
of  this  work  that  a  witch  loses  all  her 
power  when  she  falls  into  the  hands  of 
public  justice,  that  is,  with  regard  to 
the  past ;  but  with  regard  to  the  future, 
unless  she  receives  from  the  devil  fresh 
powers  of  keeping  silent,  she  will  con¬ 
fess  all  her  crimes.  Therefore  let  us  say 
with  S.  Paul  :f  Whatsoever  we  do  in 
word  or  deed,  let  all  be  done  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  JESUS  Christ.  And  if 
the  witch  be  innocent,  this  form  of 
capture  will  not  harm  her. 

Thirdly,  according  to  the  Doctors  it 
is  lawful  to  counteract  witchcraft  by 
vain  means;  for  they  all  agree  as  to 
this,  though  they  are  at  variance  over  the 
question  as  to  when  those  vain  means 
may  also  be  unlawful.  Therefore  when 
Henry  of  Segusio  says  that  it  is  lawful 

t  Paul.”  “ Colossians ”  iii,  /7. 


2l6 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  9. 


to  oppose  vanity  with  vanity,  this  is 
explained  as  meaning  that  he  speaks  of 
vain  means,  not  of  unlawful  means.  All 
the  more,  then,  is  it  lawful  to  obstruct 
witchcraft;  and  it  is  this  obstruction 
which  is  referred  to  here,  and  not  any 
unlawful  practice. 

Let  the  Judge  note  also  that  there  are 
two  sorts  of  imprisonment ;  one  being  a 
unishment  inflicted  upon  criminals, 
ut  the  other  only  a  matter  of  custody 
in  the  house  of  detention.  And  these 
two  sorts  are  noted  in  the  chapter  mul¬ 
torum  querela;  therefore  she  ought  at  least 
to  be  placed  in  custody.  But  if  it  is  only 
a  slight  matter  of  which  she  is  accused, 
and  she  is  not  of  bad  reputation,  and 
there  is  no  evidence  of  her  work  upon 
children  or  animals,  then  she  may  be 
sent  back  to  her  house.  But  because  she 
has  certainly  associated  with  witches 
and  knows  their  secrets,  she  must  give 
sureties;  and  if  she  cannot  do  so,  she 
must  be  bound  by  oaths  and  penalties 
not  to  go  out  of  her  house  unless  she  is 
summoned.  But  her  servants  and  do- 
|  mestics,  of  whom  we  spoke  above,  must 
be  kept  in  custody,  yet  not  punished. 

☆ 

QUESTION  IX 

What  is  to  be  done  after  the  Arrest ,  and 
whether  the  Names  of  the  Witnesses 
should  be  made  Known  to  the  Accused. 
This  is  the  Fourth  Action. 

THERE  are  two  matters  to  be 
attended  to  after  the  arrest,  but 
it  is  left  to  the  Judge  which  shall  be 
taken  first;  namely,  the  question  of 
allowing  the  accused  to  be  defended, 
and  whether  she  should  be  examined 
in  the  place  of  torture,  though  not 
necessarily  in  order  that  she  should  be 
tortured.  The  first  is  only  allowed 
when  a  direct  request  is  made;  the 
second  only  when  her  servants  and 
companions,  if  she  has  any,  have  first 
been  examined  in  the  house. 

But  let  us  proceed  in  the  order  as 
above.  If  the  accused  says  that  she  is 
innocent  and  falsely  accused,  and  that 
she  wishes  to  see  and  hear  her  accusers, 
then  it  is  a  sign  that  she  is  asking  to 
defend  herself.  But  it  is  an  open  ques¬ 
tion  whether  the  Judge  is  bound  to 
make  the  deponents  known  to  her  and 
bring  them  to  confront  her  face  to 
face.  For  here  let  the  Judge  take  note 


that  he  is  not  bound  either  to  publish 
the  names  of  the  deponents  or  to  bring 
them  before  the  accused,  unless  they 
themselves  should  freely  and  willingly 
offer  to  come  before  the  accused  ana 
lay  their  depositions  in  her  presence. 
And  it  is  by  reason  of  the  danger  in¬ 
curred  by  the  deponents  that  the  Judge 
is  not  bound  to  do  this.  For  although 
different  Popes  have  had  different 
opinions  on  this  matter,  none  of  them 
has  ever  said  that  in  such  a  case  the 
Judge  is  bound  to  make  known  to  the 
accused  the  names  of  the  informers  or 
accusers  (but  here  we  are  not  dealing 
with  the  case  of  an  accuser).  On  the 
contrary,  some  have  thought  that  in 
no  case  ought  he  to  do  so,  while  others 
have  thought  that  he  should  in  certain 
circumstances. 

But,  finally,  Boniface  VIII*  decreed 
as  follows :  If  in  a  case  of  heresy  it 
appears  to  the  Bishop  or  Inquisitor 
that  grave  danger  would  be  incurred 
by  the  witnesses  or  informers  on  account 
of  the  powers  of  the  persons  against 
whom  they  lay  their  depositions,  should 
their  names  be  published,  he  shall  not 
publish  them.  But  if  there  is  no  danger, 
their  names  shall  be  published  just  as 
in  other  cases. 

Here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  this  refers 
not  only  to  a  Bishop  or  Inquisitor,  but 
to  any  Judge  conducting  a  case  against 
witches  with  the  consent  of  the  In¬ 
quisitor  or  Bishop;  for,  as  was  shown 
in  the  introductory  Question,  they  can 
depute  their  duties  to  a  Judge.  So  that 
any  such  Judge,  even  if  he  be  secular, 
has  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  and  not 
only  of  the  Emperor. 

Also  a  careful  Judge  will  take  notice 
of  the  powers  of  the  accused  persons; 
for  these  are  of  three  kinds,  namely, 
the  power  of  birth  and  family,  the 
power  of  riches,  and  the  power  of 
malice.  And  the  last  of  these  is  more 
to  be  feared  than  the  other  two,  since 
it  threatens  more  danger  to  the  wit- 

*  “ Boniface  VIII.”  Benedetto  Gaetani,  born 
at  Anagni  about  1235;  elected  Pope ,  24  Decem¬ 
ber,  1234;  died  at  Rome,  11  October ,  1303.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  eminent  canonists  of  his  age, 
and  as  Supreme  Pontiff  enriched  legislation  by 
the  promulgation  ( Bull  “ Sacrosanctae ,”  1238 ) 
of  a  large  number  of  his  own  constitutions  and 
those  of  his  predecessors  since  1234 ,  when 
Gregory  IX  issued  his  five  books  of  Decretals. 
In  reference  to  this,  the  collection  of  Boniface 
VIII  is  known  as  ilLiber  Sixtus ,”  i.e.  of 
Pontifical  Constitutions. 


217 


Part  III.  Question  io.  MALEFICARUM 


nesses  if  their  names  are  made  known 
to  the  accused.  The  reason  for  this  is 
that  it  is  more  dangerous  to  make 
known  the  names  of  the  witnesses  to 
an  accused  person  who  is  poor,  because 
such  a  person  has  many  evil  accom¬ 
plices,  such  as  outlaws  and  homicides, 
associated  with  him,  who  venture 
nothing  but  their  own  persons,  which 
is  not  the  case  with  anyone  who  is 
nobly  born  or  rich,  and  abounding  in 
temporal  possessions.  And  the  kind  of 
danger  which  is  to  be  feared  is  ex¬ 
plained  by  Pope  John  XXII  as  the 
death  or  cutting  off  of  themselves  or 
their  children  or  kindred,  or  the  wast¬ 
ing  of  their  substance,  or  some  such 
matter* 

Further,  let  the  Judge  take  notice 
that,  as  he  acts  in  this  matter  with  the 
authority  of  the  Supreme  Pontiff  and 
the  permission  of  the  Ordinary,  both 
he  himself  and  all  who  are  associated 
with  him  at  the  depositions,  or  after¬ 
wards  at  the  pronouncing  of  the  sen¬ 
tence,  must  keep  the  names  of  the 
witnesses  secret,  under  pain  of  excom¬ 
munication.  And  it  is  in  the  power  of 
the  Bishop  thus  to  punish  him  or  them 
if  they  da  otherwise.  Therefore  he 
should  very  implicitly  warn  them  not 
to  reveal  the  names  from  the  very 
beginning  of  the  process. 

Wherefore  the  above  decree  of  Pope 
Boniface  VIII  goes  on  to  say  :  And  that 
the  danger  to  those  accusers  and  wit¬ 
nesses  may  be  the  more  effectively 
met,  and  the  inquiry  conducted  more 
cautiously,  we  permit,  by  the  authority 
of  this  statute,  that  the  Bishop  or 
Inquisitors  (or,  as  we  have  said,  the 
Judge)  shall  forbid  all  those  who  are 
concerned  in  the  inquiry  to  reveal 
without  their  permission  any  secrets 
which  they  have  learned  from  the 
Bishop  or  Inquisitors,  under  pain  of 
excommunication  which  they  may  in¬ 
cur  by  violating  such  secrets. 

It  is  further  to  be  noted  that  just 
as  it  is  a  punishable  offence  to  publish 
the  names  of  witnesses  indiscreetly,  so 
also  it  is  to  conceal  them  without  good 
reason  from,  for  instance,  such  people 
as  have  a  right  to  know  them,  such  as 
the  lawyers  and  assessors  whose  opinion 
is  to  be  sought  in  proceeding  to  the 
sentence ;  in  the  same  way  the  names 
must  not  be  concealed  when  it  is 
possible  to  publish  them  without  risk 
of  any  danger  to  the  witnesses.  On  this 
subject  the  above  decree  speaks  as 


follows,  towards  the  end  :  We  command 
that  in  all  cases  the  Bishop  or  Inquisi¬ 
tors  shall  take  especial  care  not  to  sup¬ 
press  the  names  of  the  witnesses  as  if 
there  were  danger  to  them  when  there 
is  perfect  security,  nor  conversely  to 
decide  to  publish  them  when  there  is 
some  danger  threatened,  the  decision 
in  this  matter  resting  with  their  own 
conscience  and  discretion.  And  it  has 
been  written  in  comment  on  these 
words :  Whoever  you  are  who  are  a 
Judge  in  such  a  case,  mark  those  words 
well,  for  they  do  not  refer  to  a  slight 
risk  but  to  a  grave  danger;  therefore 
do  not  deprive  a  prisoner  of  his  legal 
rights  without  very  good  cause,  for  this 
cannot  but  be  an  offence  to  Almighty 
God. 

The  reader  must  note  that  all  the 
process  which  we  have  already  de¬ 
scribed,  and  all  that  we  have  yet  to 
describe,  up  to  the  methods  of  passing 
sentence  (except  the  death  sentence), 
which  it  is  in  the  province  of  the 
ecclesiastical  Judge  to  condtict,  can 
also,  with  the  consent  of  the  Diocesans, 
be  conducted  by  a  secular  Judge. 
Therefore  the  reader  need  find  no 
difficulty  in  the  fact  that  the  above 
Decree  speaks  of  an  ecclesiastical  and 
not  a  secular  Judge ;  for  the  latter  can 
take  his  method  of  inflicting  the  death 
sentence  from  that  of  the  Ordinary  in 
passing  sentence  of  penance. 

☆ 

QUESTION  X 

What  Kind  of  Defence  may  be  Allowed , 
and  of  the  Appointment  of  an  Advocate. 
This  is  the  Fifth  Action. 

IF,  therefore,  the  accused  asks  to  be 
defended,  how  can  this  be  admitted 
when  the  names  of  the  witnesses  are 
kept  altogether  secret?  It  is  to  be  said 
that  three  considerations  are  to  be 
observed  in  admitting  any  defence. 
First,  that  an  Advocate  shall  be  allotted 
to  the  accused.  Second,  that  the  names 
of  the  witnesses  shall  not  be  made 
known  to  the  Advocate,  even  under  an 
oath  of  secrecy,  but  that  he  shall  be 
informed  of  everything  contained  in 
the  depositions.  Third,  the  accused 
shall  as  far  as  possible  be  given  the 
benefit  of  every  doubt,  provided  that 
this  involves  no  scandal  to  the  faith 
nor  is  in  any  way  detrimental  to  justice, 


Q 


2l8 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  ii. 


as  will  be  shown.  And  in  like  manner 
the  prisoner’s  procurator  shall  have  full 
access  to  the  whole  process,  only  the 
names  of  the  witnesses  and  deponents 
being  suppressed;  and  the  Advocate 
can  act  also  in  the  name  of  procurator. 

As  to  the  first  of  these  points :  it 
should  be  noted  that  an  Advocate  is 
not  to  be  appointed  at  the  desire  of 
the  accused,  as  if  he  may  choose  which 
Advocate  he  will  have ;  but  the  Judge 
must  take  great  care  to  appoint  neither 
a  litigious  nor  an  evil-minded  man,  nor 
yet  one  who  is  easily  bribed  (as  many 
are),  but  rather  an  honourable  man 
to  whom  no  sort  of  suspicion  attaches. 

And  the  Judge  ought  to  note  four 
points,  and  if  the  Advocate  be  found 
to  conform  to  them,  he  shall  be  allowed 
to  plead,  but  not  otherwise.  For  first 
of  all  the  Advocate  must  examine  the 
nature  of  the  case,  and  then  if  he  finds 
it  a  just  one  he  may  undertake  it,  but 
if  he  finds  it  unjust  he  must  refuse  it ; 
and  he  must  be  very  careful  not  to 
undertake  an  unjust  or  desperate  case. 
But  if  he  has  unwittingly  accepted  the 
brief,  together  with  a  fee,  from  some¬ 
one  who  wishes  to  do  him  an  injury, 
but  discovers  during  the  process  that 
the  case  is  hopeless,  then  he  must 
signify  to  his  client  (that  is,  the  accused) 
that  he  abandons  the  case,  and  must  re¬ 
turn  the  fee  which  he  has  received.  This 
is  the  opinion  of  Godfrey  of  Fontaines, 
which  is  wholly  in  conformity  with 
the  Canon  de  jud.  i,  rem  non  novam.  But 
Henry  of  Segusio  holds  an  opposite  view 
concerning  the  return  of  the  fee  in  a 
case  in  which  the  Advocate  has  worked 
very  hard.  Consequently  if  an  Advocate 
has  wittingly  undertaken  to  defend  a 
prisoner  whom  he  knows  to  be  guilty,  he 
shall  be  liable  for  the  costs  and  expenses 
{de  admin,  tut.  i,  non  tamen  est  ignotum). 

The  second  point  to  be  observed  is 
that  in  his  pleading  he  should  conduct 
himself  properly  in  three  respects. 
First,  his  behaviour  must  be  modest 
and  free  from  prolixity  or  pretentious 
oratory.  Secondly,  he  must  abide  by 
the  truth,  not  bringing  forward  any 
fallacious  arguments  or  reasoning,  or 
calling  false  witnesses,  or  introducing 
legal  quirks  and  quibbles  if  he  be  a 
skilled  lawyer,  or  bringing  counter¬ 
accusations  ;  especially  in  cases  of  this 
sort,  which  must  be  conducted  as 
simply  and  summarily  as  possible. 
Thirdly,  his  fee  must  be  regulated  by 
the  usual  practice  of  the  district. 


But  to  return  to  our  point ;  the  Judge 
must  make  the  above  conditions  clear 
to  the  Advocate,  and  finally  admonish 
him  not  to  incur  the  charge  of  defend¬ 
ing  heresy,  which  would  make  him 
liable  to  excommunication. 

And  it  is  not  a  valid  argument  for 
him  to  say  to  the  Judge  that  he  is  not 
defending  the  error,  but  the  person. 
For  he  must  not  by  any  means  so  con¬ 
duct  his  defence  as  to  prevent  the  case 
from  being  conducted  in  a  plain  and 
summary  manner,  and  he  would  be 
doing  so  if  he  introduced  any  compli¬ 
cations  or  appeals  into  it;  all  which 
things  are  disallowed  altogether.  For 
it  is  granted  that  he  does  not  defend 
the  error ;  for  in  that  case  he  would  be 
more  damnably  guilty  than  the  witches 
themselves,  and  rather  a  heresiarch 
than  a  heretical  wizard.  Nevertheless, 
if  he  unduly  defends  a  person  already 
suspect  of  heresy,  he  makes  himself 
as  it  were  a  patron  of  that  heresy,  and 
lays  himself  under  not  only  a  light  but 
a  strong  suspicion,  in  accordance  with 
the  manner  of  his  defence ;  and  ought 
publicly  to  abjure  that  heresy  before 
the  Bishop. 

We  have  put  this  matter  at  some 
length,  and  it  is  not  to  be  neglected  by 
the  Judge,  because  much  danger  may 
arise  from  an  improper  conducting  of 
the  defence  by  an  Advocate  or  Pro¬ 
curator.  Therefore,  when  there  is  any 
objection  to  the  Advocate,  the  Judge 
must  dispense  with  him  and  proceed 
in  accordance  with  the  facts  and  the 
proofs.  But  when  the  Advocate  for  the 
accused  is  not  open  to  any  objection, 
but  is  a  zealous  man  and  a  lover  of 
justice,  then  the  Judge  may  reveal  to 
him  the  names  of  the  witnesses,  under 
an  oath  of  secrecy. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XI 

What  Course  the  Advocate  should  Adopt 
when  the  Names  of  the  Witnesses  are 
not  Revealed  to  him.  The  Sixth  Action. 

BUT  it  may  be  asked:  What,  then, 
should  the  Advocate  acting  as  Pro¬ 
curator  for  the  accused  do,  when  the 
names  of  the  witnesses  are  withheld 
from  both  himself  and  his  client,  al¬ 
though  the  accused  earnestly  desires 
that  they  should  be  made  known?  We 
answer  that  he  should  obtain  informa- 


219 


Part  III.  Question  ii.  MALEFICARUM 


tion  from  the  Judge  on  every  point  of 
the  accusation,  which  must  be  given 
to  him  at  his  request,  only  the  names 
of  the  witnesses  being  suppressed ;  and 
with  this  information  he  should  ap¬ 
proach  the  accused  and,  if  the  matter 
involves  a  very  grave  charge,  exhort 
him  to  exercise  all  the  patience  which 
he  can. 

And  if  the  accused  again  and  again 
insists  that  she  should  know  the  names 
of  the  witnesses  against  her,  he  can 
answer  her  as  follows:  You  can  guess 
from  the  charges  which  are  made 
against  you  who  are  the  witnesses. 
For  the  child  or  beast  of  so  and  so  has 
been  bewitched;  or  to  such  a  woman 
or  man,  because  they  refused  to  lend 
you  something  for  which  you  asked, 
you  said,  “You  shall  know  that  it 
would  have  been  better  to  have  agreed 
to  my  request,”  and  they  bear  witness 
that  in  consequence  of  your  words  the 
person  was  suddenly  taken  ill;  and 
facts  are  stronger  evidence  than  words. 
And  you  know  that  you  have  a  bad 
reputation,  and  have  for  a  long  time 
been  suspected  of  casting  spells  upon 
and  injuring  many  men.  And  talking 
in  this  manner,  he  may  finally  induce 
her  to  enter  a  plea  that  they  had  borne 
witness  against  her  from  motives  of 
hatred ;  or  to  say,  “I  confess  that  I  did 
say  so,  but  not  with  any  intent  to  do 
harm.” 

Therefore  the  Advocate  must  first 
lay  before  the  Judge  and  his  assessors 
this  plea  of  personal  enmity,  and  the 
Judge  must  inquire  into  it.  And  if  it 
should  be  found  to  be  a  case  of  mortal 
enmity,  as  that  there  has  been  some 
attempted  or  accomplished  murder 
committed  by  the  husbands  or  kindred 
of  the  parties,  or  that  someone  of  one 
party  has  been  charged  with  a  crime 
by  someone  of  the  other  party,  so  that 
he  fell  into  the  hands  of  public  justice, 
or  that  serious  wounds  have  resulted 
from  quarrels  and  brawls  between 
them ;  then  the  upright  and  careful 
Judge  will  consult  with  his  assessors 
whether  the  accused  or  the  deponent 
was  the  aggravating  party.  For  if,  for 
example,  the  husband  or  friends  of  the 
accused  have  unjustly  oppressed  the 
friends  of  the  deponent,  then  if  there 
is  no  evidence  of  the  fact  that  children 
or  animals  or  men  have  been  bewitched, 
and  if  there  are  no  other  witnesses, 
and  the  accused  is  not  even  commonly 
suspected  of  witchcraft,  in  that  case  it 


is  presumed  that  the  depositions  were 
laid  against  her  from  motives  of  ven¬ 
geance,  and  she  is  to  be  discharged  as 
innocent  and  freely  dismissed,  after 
having  been  duly  cautioned  against 
seeking  to  avenge  herself,  in  the  manner 
which  is  usually  used  by  Judges. 

The  following  case  may  be  put. 
Katharina’s  child,  or  she  herself,  is 
bewitched,  or  she  has  suffered  much 
loss  in  her  cattle;  and  she  suspects 
the  accused  because  her  husband  or 
brothers  had  previously  brought  an 
unjust  accusation  against  her  own 
husband  or  brothe'r.  Here  the  cause  of 
enmity  is  twofold  on  the  part  of  the 
deponent,  having  its  root  both  in  her 
own  bewitchment  and  in  the  unjust 
accusation  brought  against  her  hus¬ 
band  or  brother.  Then  ought  her 
deposition  to  be  rejected  or  not?  From 
one  point  of  view  it  seems  that  it 
should,  because  she  is  actuated  by 
enmity;  from  another  point  of  view  it 
should  not,  because  there  is  the  evidence 
of  the  fact  in  her  bewitchment. 

We  answer  that  if  in  this  case  there 
are  no  other  deponents,  and  the 
accused  is  not  even  under  common 
suspicion,  then  her  depositions  cannot 
be  allowed,  but  must  be  rejected ;  but 
if  the  accused  is  rendered  suspect,  and 
if  the  disease  is  not  due  to  natural 
causes  but  to  witchcraft  (and  we  shall 
show  later  how  this  can  be  distin¬ 
guished),  she  is  to  be  subjected  to  a 
canonical  purgation. 

If  it  be  asked  further  whether  the 
other  deponents  must  bear  witness  to 
the  evidence  of  the  fact  as  experienced 
by  themselves  or  others,  or  only  to 
the  public  reputation  of  the  accused ; 
we  answer  that,  if  they  give  evidence 
of  the  fact,  so  much  the  better.  But  if 
they  only  give  evidence  as  to  her 
general  character,  and  the  matter 
stands  so,  then,  although  the  Judge 
must  reject  that  deponent  on  the 
grounds  of  personal  enmity,  yet  he 
shall  take  the  evidence  of  the  fact,  and 
of  her  bad  reputation  given  by  the 
other  witnesses,  as  proof  that  the 
accused  must  be  strongly  suspect,  and 
on  these  grounds  he  can  sentence  her 
to  a  threefold  punishment:  namely,  to 
a  canonical  purgation  because  of  her 
reputation;  or  to  an  abjuration,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  suspicion  under  which  she 
rests,  and  there  are  various  forms  of 
abjuration  for  various  degrees  of  sus¬ 
picion,  as  will  be  shown  in  the  fourth 


220 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  12. 


method  of  passing  sentence ;  or,  because 
of  the  evidence  of  the  fact,  and  if  she 
confesses  her  crime  and  is  penitent,  she 
shall  not  be  handed  over  to  the  secular 
branch  for  capital  punishment,  but  be 
sentenced  by  the  ecclesiastical  Judge 
to  imprisonment  for  life.  But  notwith- 
standing  the  fact  that  she  has  been 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life  by 
the  ecclesiastical  Judge,  the  secular 
Judge  can,  on  account  of  the  temporal 
injuries  which  she  has  committed, 
deliver  her  to  be  burned.  But  all  these 
matters  will  be  made  clear  later  when 
we  deal  with  the  sixth  method  of 
passing  sentence. 

To  sum  up:  Let  the  Judge  first  take 
care  not  to  lend  too  easy  belief  to  the 
Advocate  when  he  pleads  mortal  enmity 
on  behalf  of  the  accused ;  for  in  these 
cases  it  is  very  seldom  that  anyone 
bears  witness  without  enmity,  because 
witches  are  always  hated  by  every¬ 
body.  Secondly,  let  him  take  note  that 
there  are  four  ways  by  which  a  witch 
can  be  convicted,  namely,  by  wit¬ 
nesses,  by  direct  evidence  of  the  fact, 
by  indirect  evidence  of  the  fact,  and 
by  her  own  confession.  And  if  she  is 
detained  on  account  of  a  general 
report,  she  can  be  convicted  by  the 
evidence  of  witnesses ;  if  on  account  of 
a  definite  suspicion,  the  direct  or  in¬ 
direct  evidence  of  the  facts  can  convict 
her,  and  by  reason  of  these  the  sus¬ 
picion  may  be  judged  to  be  either  light 
or  strong  or  grave.  All  this  is  when  she 
does  not  confess;  but  when  she  does, 
the  case  can  proceed  as  has  been  said. 

Thirdly,  let  the  Judge  make  use  of 
all  the  foregoing  circumstances  to  meet 
the  plea  of  the  Advocate,  whether  the 
accused  is  charged  only  by  reason  of  a 
general  report,  or  whether  there  are 
also  certain  evidences  to  support  the 
charge  by  which  she  incurs  slight  or 
strong  suspicion ;  and  then  he  will  be 
able  to  answer  the  Advocate’s  allega¬ 
tion  of  personal  enmity,  which  is  the 
first  line  of  defence  which  he  may 
assume. 

But  when  the  Advocate  assumes  the 
second  line  of  defence,  admitting  that 
the  accused  has  used  such  words  against 
the  deponent  as,  “You  shall  soon  know 
what  is  going  to  happen  to  you,”  or 
“You  will  wish  soon  enough  that  you 
had  lent  or  sold  me  what  I  asked  for,” 
or  some  such  words ;  and  submits  that, 
although  the  deponent  afterwards  ex¬ 
perienced  some  injury  either  to  his 


person  or  his  property,  yet  it  does  not 
follow  from  this  that  the  accused  wa? 
the  cause  of  it  as  a  witch,  for  illnesses 
may  be  due  to  various  different  causes. 
Also  he  submits  that  it  is  a  common 
habit  of  women  to  quarrel  together 
with  such  words,  etc. 

The  Judge  ought  to  answer  such 
allegations  in  the  following  manner. 
If  the  illness  is  due  to  natural  causes, 
then  the  excuse  is  good.  But  the 
evidence  indicates  the  contrary;  for  it 
cannot  be  cured  by  any  natural 
remedy ;  or  in  the  opinion  of  the 
physicians  the  illness  is  due  to  witch¬ 
craft,  or  is  what  is  in  common  speech 
called  a  Night-scathe.  Again,  perhaps 
other  enchantresses  are  of  the  opinion 
that  it  is  due  to  witchcraft.  Or  because 
it  came  suddenly,  without  any  previous 
sickening,  whereas  natural  diseases 
generally  develop  gradually.  Or  per¬ 
haps  because  the  plaintiff  had  found 
certain  instruments  of  witchcraft  under 
his  bed  or  in  his  clothes  or  elsewhere, 
and  when  these  were  removed  he  was 
suddenly  restored  to  health,  as  often 
happens,  as  we  showed  in  the  Second 
Part  of  this  work  where  we  treated  of 
remedies.  And  by  some  such  answer 
as  this  the  Judge  can  easily  meet  this 
allegation,  and  show  that  the  illness 
was  due  rather  to  witchcraft  than  to 
any  natural  causes,  and  that  the  accused 
must  be  suspected  of  causing  such 
witchcraft,  by  reason  of  her  threaten¬ 
ing  words.  In  the  same  way,  if  someone 
said,  “I  wish  your  barn  would  be 
burned  down,”  and  this  should  after¬ 
wards  happen,  it  would  engender  a 
grave  suspicion  that  the  person  who 
had  used  that  threat  had  caused  the 
barn  to  be  set  on  fire,  even  if  another 
person,  and  not  he  himself,  had 
actually  set  light  to  it. 

☆  v 

QUESTION  XII 

Of  the  Same  Matter ,  Declaring  more  Par¬ 
ticularly  how  the  Question  of  Personal 
Enmity  is  to  be  Investigated.  The 
Seventh  Action. 

TAKE  notice  that  only  mortal 
enemies  are  debarred  from  giving 
evidence,  as  was  shown  in  the  Fifth 
Question.  But  the  Judge  may  consider 
that  to  come  to  a  decision  about  such 
enmity  by  the  means  we  have  just 


Part  III.  Question  12.  MALEFICARUM 


221 


explained  is  rather  dubious  and  un¬ 
satisfactory;  and  the  accused  or  her 
Procurator  may  not  be  willing  to 
accept  a  decision  arrived  at  on  such 
grounds  as  to  whether  the  enmity  is 
mortal  or  not.  Therefore  the  Judge  must 
use  other  means  to  decide  concerning 
the  alleged  enmity,  so  that  he  may 
not  punish  the  innocent,  but  exact 
full  justice  from  the  guilty.  And  though 
these  means  may  savour  of  cunning 
and  even  guile,  yet  the  Judge  may 
employ  them  for  the  good  of  the  faith 
and  the  State ;  for  even  S.  Paul  says : 
But  being  crafty,  I  caught  you  by  guile. 
And  these  means  are  especially  to  be 
employed  in  the  case  of  a  prisoner  who 
has  not  been  publicly  defamed,  and  is 
not  suspected  because  of  the  evidence 
of  any  fact ;  and  the  Judge  may  also 
employ  them  against  prisoners  who 
have  alleged  enmity  on  the  part  of 
the  deponents,  and  wish  to  know  all 
the  names  of  the  witnesses. 

The  first  method  is  this.  The  accused 
or  her  Advocate  is  given  a  copy  of  the 
process  with  the  names  of  the  de¬ 
ponents  or  informers,  but  not  in  the 
order  in  which  they  deposed;  but  in 
such  a  way  that  the  name  of  the  wit¬ 
ness  who  comes  first  in  the  copy  is 
sixth  or  seventh  in  the  schedule,  and 
he  who  comes  second  is  last  or  last 
but  one.  In  this  way  the  accused  will 
be  deceived  as  to  which  witness  deposed 
this  or  that.  And  then  she  will  either  say 
that  they  are  all  her  enemies,  or  not ;  and 
if  she  says  that  they  all  are,  she  will  be 
the  more  easily  detected  in  a  lie  when 
the  cause  of  the  enmity  is  investigated 
by  the  Judge ;  and  if  she  names  only 
certain  ones,  still  the  cause  of  the  enmity 
will  be  more  easily  investigated. 

The  second  method  is  similar,  when 
the  Advocate  is  given  a  copy  of  the 
process,  and  separately  a  list  of  the 
names  of  the  deponents ;  but  there  are 
added  other  matters  perpetrated  else¬ 
where  by  witches,  but  not  set  down  in 
writing  by  the  witnesses  or  deponents. 
And  so  the  accused  will  not  be  able  to 
say  definitely  that  this  one  or  that  one 
is  her  mortal  enemy,  because  she  does 
not  know  what  they  have  deposed 
against  her. 

The  third  method  was  touched. upon 
in  the  Fifth  Question  above.  For  when 
the  accused  is  questioned  at  the  end 
of  her  second  examination,  and  before 
she  has  demanded  to  be  defended  or 
an  Advocate  has  been  allotted  to  her, 


let  her  be  asked  whether  she  thinks 
that  she  has  any  mortal  enemies  who, 
setting  aside  ail  fear  of  God,  would 
falsely  accuse  her  of  the  crime  of  heresy 
and  witchcraft.  And  then  perhaps  with¬ 
out  thinking,  and  not  having  seen  the 
depositions  of  the  witnesses,  she  will 
answer  that  she  does  not  think  that 
she  has  any  such  enemies.  Or  if  she 
says,  ‘T  think  I  have,”  and  names  any 
of  the  witnesses  who  have  laid  informa¬ 
tion,  and  the  reason  for  that  enmity  is 
known,  then  the  Judge  will  be  able  to 
investigate  it  with  more  certainty  after¬ 
wards,  when  the  accused  has  been  given 
separate  copies  of  the  process  and  of 
the  names  of  the  witnesses,  in  the 
manner  we  have  explained. 

The  fourth  method  is  this.  At  the 
end  of  her  second  examination  and 
confession  (as  we  showed  in  the  Sixth 
Question),  before  she  is  granted  any 
means  of  defence,  let  her  be  questioned 
as  to  the  witnesses  who  have  laid  the 
more  serious  charges  against  her,  in 
this  manner.  “Do  you  know  So-and- 
so?”  naming  one  of  the  witnesses ;  and 
then  she  will  answer  either  Yes  or  No. 
If  she  says  No,  she  will  not  be  able, 
after  she  has  been  given  means  of 
defence  and  an  Advocate,  to  plead 
that  he  is  a  mortal  enemy,  since  she 
has  said  on  oath  that  she  does  not 
know  him.  But  if  she  says  Yes,  let  her 
be  asked  whether  she  knows  or  has 
heard  that  he  or  she  has  acted  in  any 
way  contrary  to  the  Christian  faith 
in  the  manner  of  a  witch.  Then  if  she 
says  Yes,  for  he  did  such  and  such  a 
thing;  let  her  be  asked  whether  he 
is  her  friend  or  enemy;  and  she  will 
immediately  answer  that  he  is  her 
friend,  because  the  testimony  of  such 
is  not  of  very  great  account ;  and  conse¬ 
quently  she  will  not  be  able  afterwards 
to  plead  on  oath  through  her  Advocate 
that  he  is  her  enemy,  for  she  has 
already  said  that  he  is  her  friend.  But 
if  she  answers  that  she  knows  nothing 
about  him,  let  her  again  be  asked 
whether  he  is  her  friend  or  enemy,  and 
she  will  at  once  answer  that  he  is  her 
friend ;  for  it  would  be  futile  to  allege 
enmity  on  the  part  of  someone  of  whom 
she  knows  nothing.  Therefore  she  says, 
“I  am  his  friend,  but  if  I  knew  any¬ 
thing  about  him  I  would  not  fail  to 
reveal  it.”  Therefore  she  will  not  be 
able  afterwards  to  plead  that  he  is  her 
enemy.  Or  perhaps  she  will  from  the 
very  beginning  allege  reasons  for  mortal 


222 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  13. 


enmity,  and  in  that  case  some  credence 
must  be  placed  in  the  plea  of  the 
Advocate. 

A  fifth  method  is  to  give  the  Advo¬ 
cate  or  the  accused  a  copy  of  the  pro¬ 
cess,  with  the  names  of  the  informers 
suppressed.  And  then  the  accused  will 
guess,  and  very  often  rightly,  who  has 
deposed  such  and  such  against  her. 
And  then  if  she  says,  “So-and-so  is  my 
mortal  enemy,  and  I  am  willing  to 
prove  it  by  witnesses,”  then  the  Judge 
must  consider  whether  the  person 
named  is  the  same  person  named  in  the 
schedule  ;  and  since  she  has  said  that 
she  is  willing  to  prove  it  by  witnesses, 
he  will  examine  those  witnesses  and 
inquire  into  the  causes  of  the  enmity, 
ha  ving  secretly  called  into  consultation 
learned  and  aged  men  of  known 
prudence.  And  if  he  finds  sufficient 
reasons  for  mortal  enmity,  he  shall  reject 
that  evidence  and  dismiss  the  prisoner, 
unless  there  are  other  grave  charges 
against  her,  sworn  to  by  other  witnesses. 

And  this  fifth  method  is  commonly 
used;  and  it  is  found  in  practice  that 
witches  quickly  guess  from  the  copy 
of  the  process  who  has  laid  information 
against  them.  And  because  in  such 
cases  mortal  enmity  is  rarely  found 
unless  it  arises  from  the  wicked  deeds 
of  the  witch,  therefore  the  Judge  can 
easily  come  to  a  decision  by  the  above 
means.  Also  it  is  to  be  noted  that  often 
the  informers  desire  to  confront  the 
witch  personally,  and  to  charge  her  to 
her  face  with  the  bewitchment  which 
has  befallen  them. 

There  is  still  one  more  method 
whereunto  the  Judge  may  finally  have 
recourse,  when  perhaps  the  other 
methods,  and  especially  the  first  four, 
seem  to  some  to  savour  too  much  of 
cunning  and  deceit.  Accordingly,  to 
satisfy  and  content  the  scrupulous,  and 
that  no  fault  may  be  found  with  the 
Judge,  let  him  take  care,  after  he  has 
found  by  the  above  methods  that  there 
is  no  mortal  enmity  between  the 
accused  and  the  deponent,  but  wishes 
to  remove  all  grounds  for  complaint 
by  settling  the  question  finally  in  con¬ 
sultation  with  his  other  assessors,  to 
act  as  follows.  Let  him  give  to  the 
accused  or  her  Advocate  a  copy  of  the 
process,  with  the  names  of  the  de¬ 
ponents  or  informers  suppressed.  And 
since  her  defence  is  that  she  has  mortal 
enemies,  and  perhaps  she  has  alleged 
various  reasons  for  the  enmity,  whether 


or  not  the  facts  are  in  agreement  with 
her  statements,  let  the  Judge  call  into 
consultation  learned  men  of  every 
faculty  (if  such  can  be  had),  or  at  least 
some  honest  and  reputable  persons  (for 
this  is  the  purport  of  that  statute  we 
have  so  often  quoted);  and  let  him 
cause  the  whole  process  to  be  read 
through  to  them  from  end  to  end  by 
the  Notary  or  scribe,  and  let  the  names 
of  the  witnesses  be  made  known  to 
them,  but  under  an  oath  of  secrecy; 
and  he  shall  first  inquire  whether  or 
not  they  are  willing  to  be  bound  by 
such  an  oath,  for  if  not  the  names 
must  by  no  means  be  declared  to  them. 

Then  let  him  tell  how  he  has  inquired 
in  such  and  such  a  manner  into  the 
alleged  enmity,  and  has  not  been  able 
to  find  any  testimony  of  fact.  But  he 
shall  add  that,  if  they  please,  one  of 
two  courses  shall  be  pursued.  Either 
they  shall  decide  then  and  there  in 
consultation  whether  the  evidence  of 
any  of  the  witnesses  shall  be  rejected 
on  the  grounds  of  mortal  personal 
enmity;  or  let  them  choose  three  or 
four  or  five  persons  who  have  most 
knowledge  in  that  town  or  village  of 
any  friendship  or  enmity  between  the 
accused  and  the  informer,  who  are  not 
present  at  the  consultation,  and  let 
them  be  informed  of  the  names  only 
of  the  accused  and  the  witness,  but 
not  of  the  information  which  has  been 
deposed,  and  let  the  whole  question 
be  left  to  their  judgement.  If  they 
follow  the  former  of  these  courses, 
they  cannot  very  well  reject  any  wit¬ 
ness,  since  the  Judge  has  already  used 
his  own  methods  of  investigation;  but 
by  the  second  course  he  protects  him¬ 
self  perfectly,  and  clears  himself  of  all 
ugly  suspicions.  And  he  ought  to 
observe  this  last  method  when  the 
accused  has  been  taken  in  a  foreign 
town  or  country.  These  methods  will 
suffice  for  examining  the  question  of 
personal  enmity. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XIII 

Of  the  Points  to  he  Observed  by  the  Judge 
before  the  Formal  Examination  in  the 
Place  of.  Detention  and  Torture.  This 
is  the  Eighth  Action. 

THE  next  action  of  the  Judge  is 
quite  clear.  For  common  justice 
demands  that  a  witch  should  not  be 


Part  III.  Question  13.  MALEFICARUM 


223 


condemned  to  death  unless  she  is  con¬ 
victed  by  her  own  confession.  But  here 
we  are  considering  the  case  of  one  who 
is  judged  to  be  taken  in  manifest  heresy 
for  one  of  the  other  two  reasons  set 
down  in  the  First  Question,  namely, 
direct  or  indirect  evidence  of  the  fact, 
or  the  legitimate  production  of  wit¬ 
nesses  ;  and  in  this  case  she  is  to  be 
exposed  to  questions  and  torture  to 
extort  a  confession  of  her  crimes. 

And  to  make  the  matter  clear  we 
will  quote  a  case  which  occurred  at 
Spires  and  came  to  the  knowledge  of 
many.  A  certain  honest  man  was  bar¬ 
gaining  with  a  woman,  and  would  not 
come  to  terms  with  her  about  the  price 
of  some  article;  so  she  angrily  called 
after  him,  “You  will  soon  wish  you 
had  agreed.”  For  witches  generally  use 
this  manner  of  speaking,  or  something 
like  it,  when  they  wish  to  bewitch  a 
person  by  looking  at  him.  Then  he, 
not  unreasonably  being  angry  with  her, 
looked  over  his  shoulder  to  see  with 
what  intention  she  had  uttered  those 
words;  and  behold!  he  was  suddenly 
bewitched  so  that  his  mouth  was 
stretched  sideways  as  far  as  his  ears  in 
a  horrible  deformity,  and  he  could  not 
draw  it  back,  but  remained  so  de¬ 
formed  for  a  long  time. 

We  put  the  case  that  this  was  sub¬ 
mitted  to  the  Judge  as  direct  evidence 
of  the  fact ;  and  it  is  asked  whether  the 
woman  is  to  be  considered  as  mani¬ 
festly  taken  in  the  heresy  of  witchcraft. 
This  should  be  answered  from  the 
words  of  S.  Bernard  which  we  have 
quoted  above.  For  there  are  three  ways 
in  which  a  person  may  be  judged  to  be 
so  taken,  and  they  not  so  closely  con¬ 
joined  as  though  it  were  necessary  for 
all  three  to  agree  in  one  conclusion, 
but  each  one  by  itself,  namely,  the 
evidence  of  the  fact,  or  the  legitimate 
production  of  witnesses,  or  her  own 
confession,  is  sufficient  to  prove  a  witch 
to  be  manifestly  taken  in  that  heresy. 

But  indirect  evidence  of  the  fact  is 
different  from  direct  evidence ;  yet 
though  it  is  not  so  conclusive,  it  is  still 
taken  from  the  words  and  deeds  of 
witches,  as  was  shown  in  the  Seventh 
Question,  and  it  is  judged  from  witch¬ 
craft  which  is  not  so  immediate  in  its 
effect,  but  follows  after  some  lapse  of 
time  from  the  utterance  of  the  threaten¬ 
ing  words.  Wherefore  may  we  conclude 
that  this  is  the  case  with  such  witches 
who  have  been  accused  and  have  not 


made  good  their  defence  (or  have 
failed  to  defend  themselves  because 
this  privilege  was  not  granted  them; 
and  it  was  not  granted  because  they 
did  not  ask  for  it) .  But  what  we  are  to 
consider  now  is  what  action  the  Judge 
should  take,  and  how  he  should  pro¬ 
ceed  to  question  the  accused  with  a 
view  to  extorting  the  truth  from  her  so 
that  sentence  of  death  may  finally  be 
passed  upon  her. 

And  here,  because  of  the  great 
trouble  caused  by  the  stubborn  silence 
of  witches,  there  are  several  points 
which  the  Judge  must  notice,  and  these 
are  dealt  with  under  their  several 
heads. 

And  the  first  is  that  he  must  not  be 
too  quick  to  subject  a  witch  to  examina¬ 
tion,  but  must  pay  attention  to  certain 
signs  which  will  follow.  And  he  must 
not  be  too  quick  for  this  reason:  unless 
God,  through  a  holy  Angel,  compels 
the  devil  to  withhold  his  help  from  the 
witch,  she  will  be  so  insensible  to  the 
pains  of  torture  that  she  will  sooner  be 
torn  limb  from  limb  than  confess  any  . 
of  the  truth. 

But  the  torture  is  not  to  be  neglected 
for  this  reason,  for  they  are  not  all 
equally  endowed  with  this  power,  and 
also  the  devil  sometimes  of  his  own 
will  permits  them  to  confess  their 
crimes  without  being  compelled  by  a 
holy  Angel.  And  for  the  understanding 
of  this  the  reader  is  referred  to  that 
which  is  written  in  the  Second  Part  of 
this  work  concerning  the  homage  which 
they  offer  to  the  devil. 

For  there  are  some  who  obtain  from 
the  devil  a  respite  of  six  or  eight  or 
ten  years  before  they  have  to  offer 
him  their  homage,  that  is,  devote 
themselves  to  him  body  and  soul ; 
whereas  others,  when  they  first  profess 
their  abjuration  of  the  faith,  at  the 
same  time  offer  their  homage.  And 
the  reason  why  the  devil  allows  that 
stipulated  interval  of  time  is  that, 
during  that  time,  he  may  find  out 
whether  the  witch  has  denied  the  faith 
with  her  lips  only  but  not  in  her  heart, 
and  would  therefore  offer  him  her 
homage  in  the  same  way. 

For  the  devil  cannot  know  the  inner 
thoughts  of  the  heart  except  conjectur- 
ally  from  outward  indications,  as  we 
showed  in  the  First  Part  of  this  work 
where  we  dealt  with  the  question 
whether  devils  can  turn  the  minds  of 
men  to  hatred  or  love.  And  many  have 


224 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  13. 


been  found  who,  driven  by  some  neces¬ 
sity  or  poverty,  have  been  induced  by 
other  witches,  in  the  hope  of  ultimate 
forgiveness  in  confession,  to  become 
either  total  or  partial  apostates  from 
the  faith.  And  it  is  such  whom  the 
devil  deserts  without  any  compulsion 
by  a  holy  Angel;  and  therefore  they 
readily  confess  their  crimes,  whereas 
others,  who  have  from  their  hearts 
bound  themselves  to  the  devil,  are  pro¬ 
tected  by  his  power  and  preserve  a 
stubborn  silence. 

And  this  provides  a  clear  answer  to 
the  question  how  it  comes  about  that 
some  witches  readily  confess,  and  others 
will  by  no  means  do  so.  For  in  the  case 
of  the  former,  when  the  devil  is  not 
compelled  by  God,  he  still  deserts 
them  of  his  own  will,  in  order  that  by 
temporal  unhappiness  and  a  horrible 
death  he  may  lead  to  despair  those 
over  whose  hearts  he  could  never 
obtain  the  mastery.  For  it  is  evident 
from  their  sacramental  confessions  that 
they  have  never  voluntarily  obeyed  the 
devil,  but  have  been  compelled  by  him 
to  work  witchcraft. 

And  some  also  are  distinguished  by 
the  fact  that,  after  they  have  admitted 
their  crimes,  they  try  to  commit  suicide 
by  strangling  or  hanging  *  themselves. 

*  “Hanging.”  There  are  recorded  many 
instances  of  this.  In  iggy  the  Scotch  warlock 
Playfair ,  having  killed  Lord  Lothian  by  witch¬ 
craft ,  was  laid for ,  and  “being  soon  apprehended , 
was  made  prisoner  in  Dalkeith  steeple ,  and  having 
confest  that  and  much  more  wickedness  to  Mr. 
Archibald  Simson ,  minister  there ,  and  that  con¬ 
fession  coming  to  the  ears  of  Robert ,  Earl  of 
Lothian ,  my  lord’s  son ,  he  had  moyen  to  get  some 
persons  admitted  to  speak  with  the.prisoner  in  the 
night ,  by  which  means  he  was  found  worried  in 
the  morning ,  and  the  point  of  his  breeches  knit 
about  his  neck,  but  never  more  inquiry  was  made 
who  had  done  the  deed.” 

Alice  Gooderidge,  a  Derbyshire  witch,  who 
was  tried  in  iygy  and  condemned,  “should  haue 
bin  executed,  but  that  her  spirit  killed  her  in  the 
prison.”  John  Stewart,  a  warlock  of  Irvine ,  in 
1618,  “for  his  better  preferring  to  the  day  of  the 
assys,  was  put  in  ane  lockfast  buith,  .  .  .  and 
for  avoyding  of  putting  violent  handis  on  himself 
was  verie  strictly  gairdit  and  flitherit  be  the 
airms,  as  us  is.”  He  was  visited  by  two 
ministers,  who  exhorted  him  to  repentance,  and 
seemed  very  contrite,  confessing  his  witchcrafts. 
However ,  almost  immediately  after  “he  was 
fund  be  the  burrow  officers,  quha  went  about  him 
stranglit  and  hangit  be  the  cruik  of  the  dur ,  with 
ane  tait  of  hemp  {or  a  string  maid  of  hemp , 
supposed  to  haif  been  his  garters ,  or  string  of  his 


And  they  are  induced  to  do  this  by  the 
Enemy,  lest  they  should  obtain  pardon 
from  God  through  sacramental  con¬ 
fession.  This  chiefly  happens  in  the 
case  of  those  wlio  have  not  been  willing 
agents  of  the  devil;  although  it  may 
also  happen  in  the  case  of  willing 
agents,  after  they  have  confessed  their 
crimes :  but  then  it  is  because  the  devil 
has  been  compelled  to  desert  the 
witch. 

In  conclusion  we  may  say  that  it  is 
as  difficult,  or  more  difficult,  to  compel 
a  witch  to  tell  the  truth  as  it  is  to 
exorcise  a  person  possessed  of  the  devil. 


bonnet )  not  above  the  length  of  two  span  long, 
his  kneyis  not  being  from  the  grund  half ine  span, 
and  was  brocht  out  of  the  hous,  his  lyf  not  being 
so  layt  expellit:  but  notwithstanding  of  quhat - 
somever  meines  usit  to  the  contrair  for  remeid  of 
his  lyf,  he  revievit  not,  but  so  endit  his  lyf 
miserable  by  the  help  of  the  devill  his  maister” 
In  i64g  the  lady  of  Pittahro,  Mistress  Hender¬ 
son,  “being  delated  by  many  to  be  a  witch,  was 
apprehended  and  carried  to  Edenbroughe,  wher 
she  was  keiped  fast;  and  after  her  remaining  in 
prison  for  a  tyme ,  being  in  health  all  night, 
vpon  the  morne  was  found  dead.  It  was  thought, 
and  spoken  by  many,  that  she  wronged  her  selfe, 
either  by  strangling  or  by  poy son.” 

It  is  recorded  of  the  Renfrewshire  trials  (/697) 
that  John  Reid,  a  notorious  warlock  of  Bar - 
garran,  “after  his  Confession  had  called  out  of 
his  prison  Window ,  desiring  Baily  Scott  to  keep 
that  old  body  Angus  Forrester,  who  had  been 
his  fellow  prisoner ,  close  and  secure;  whereupon 
the  company  asked  John  when  they  were  leaving 
him  on  Friday  night  the  21st  of  May,  whether 
he  desired  company  or  would  be  afraid  alone,  he 
said  he  had  no  fear  of  anything:  So  being  left  till 
Saturday  in  the  Forenoon,  he  was  found  in  this 
posture,  viz •  sitting  upon  a  stool  which  was  on 
the  Hearth  of  the  Chimney,  with  his  feet  on  the 
floor  and  his  Body  straight  upward,  his  shoulders 
touching  the  lintel  of  the  Chimney,  but  his  Neck 
tied  with  his  own  neck-cloath  ( whereof  the  knot 
was  behind )  to  a  small  stick  thrust  into  a  hole 
above  the  lintel  of  the  Chimney,  upon  which  the 
Company,  especially  John  Campbel  a  Chyrurgeon 
who  was  called,  thought  at  first  in  respect  of  his 
being  in  an  ordinary  posture  of  sitting,  and  the 
neck-cloath  not  having  any  drawn  knot  {or  “  run 
loup  ”)  but  an  ordinary  one  which  was  not  very 
strait,  and  the  sticke  not  having  the  strength  to 
bear  the  weight  of  his  Body  or  the  struggle,  that 
he  had  not  been  quite  dead;  but  finding  it  other- 
ways,  and  that  he  was  in  such  a  Situation  that 
he  could  not  have  been  the  Actor  thereof  himself, 
concluded  that  some  extraordinary  Agent  had 
done  it,  especially  considering  that  the  Door  of  the 
Room  was  secured,  and  that  there  was  a  board  set  t 
over  the  Window  which  was  not  there  the  night 
before  when  they  left  him.” 


Part  III.  Question  14.  MALEFICARUM 


225 


Therefore  the  Judge  ought  not  to  be 
too  willing  or  ready  to  proceed  to  such 
examination,  unless,  as  has  been  said, 
the  death  penalty  is  involved.  And  in 
this  case  he  must  exercise  great  care, 
as  we  shall  show;  and  first  we  shall 
speak  of  the  method  of  sentencing  a 
witch  to  such  torture. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XIV 

Of  the  Method  of  Sentencing  the  Accused 
to  be  Questioned:  and  How  she  must 
be  Questioned  on  the  First  Day;  and 
Whethef  she  may  be  Promised  her  Life. 

The  Ninth  Action. 

t 

ECONDLY,  the  Judge  must  take 
care  to  frame  his  sentence  in  the 
following  manner. 

We,  the  Judge  and  assessors,  having 
attended  to  and  considered  the  details 
of  the  process  enacted  by  us  against  you 
N.  of  such  a  place  in  such  a  Diocese, 
and  having  diligently  examined  the 
whole  matter,  find  that  you  are  equivo¬ 
cal  in  your  admissions ;  as  for  example, 
when  you  say  that  you  used  such 
threats  with  no  intention  of  doing  an 
injury,  but  nevertheless  there  are  various 
proois  which  are  sufficient  warrant  for 
exposing  you  to  the  question  and  tor¬ 
ture.  Wherefore,  that  the  truth  may  be 
known  from  your  own  mouth,  and  that 
henceforth  you  may  not  offend  the 
ears  of  the  Judges,  we  declare,  judge 
and  sentence  that  on  this  present  day 
at  such  an  hour  you  be  placed  under 
the  question  and  torture.  This  sentence 
was  given,  etc. 

Alternatively,  as  has  been  said,  the 
Judge  may  not  be  willing  to  deliver 
the  accused  up  to  be  questioned,  but 
may  punish  her  with  imprisonment 
with  the  following  object  in  view.  Let 
him  summon  her  friends  and  put  it  to 
them  that  she  may  escape  the  death 
penalty,  although  she  will  be  punished 
in  another  way,  if  she  confesses  the 
truth,  and  urge  them  to  try  to  per¬ 
suade  her  to  do  so.  For  very  often 
meditation,  and  the  misery  of  imprison¬ 
ment,  and  the  repeated  advice  of  honest 
men,  dispose  the  accused  to  discover 
the  truth. 

And  we  have  found  that  witches 
have  been  so  strengthened  by  this  sort 
of  advice  that,  as  a  sign  of  their  rebel¬ 


lion,  they  have  spat  on  the  ground  as 
if  it  were  in  the  devil’s  face,  saying, 
“Depart,  cursed  devil ;  I  shall  do  what 
is  just” ;  and  afterwards  they  have 
confessed  their  crimes. 

But  if,  after  keeping  the  accused  in  a » 
state  of  suspense,  and  continually  post¬ 
poning  the  day  of  examination,  and 
frequently  using  verbal  persuasions, 
the  Judge  should  truly  believe  that  the 
accused  is  denying  the  truth,  let  them 
question  her  lightly  without  shedding 
blood;  knowing  that  such  questioning 
is  fallacious  and  often,  as  has  been  said, 
ineffective. 

And  it  should  be  begun  in  this  way. 
While  the  officers,  are  preparing  for 
the  questioning,  let  the  accused  be 
stripped ;  or  if  she  is  a  woman,  let  her 
first  be  led  to  the  penal  cells  and  there 
stripped  by  honest  women  of  good 
reputation.  And  the  reason  for  this  is 
that  they  should  search  for  any  instru¬ 
ment  of  witchcraft  sewn  into  her 
clothes ;  for  they  often  make  such 
instruments,  at  the  instruction  of  devils, 
out  of  the  limbs  of  unbaptized  children, 
the  purpose  being  that  those  children 
should  be  deprived  of  the  beatific 
vision.  And  when  such  instruments 
have  been  disposed  of,  the  Judge  shall 
use  his  own  persuasions  and  those  of 
other  honest  men  zealous  for  the  faith 
to  induce  her  to  confess  the  truth 
voluntarily ;  and  if  she  will  not,  let 
him  order  the  officers  to  bind  her  with 
cords,  and  apply  her  to  some  engine  of 
torture ;  and  then  let  them  obey  at  once 
but  not  joyfully,  rather  appearing  to 
be  disturbed  by  their  duty.  Then  let 
her  be  released  again  at  someone’s 
earnest  request,  and  taken  on  one  side, 
and  let  her  again  be  persuaded;  and 
in  persuading  her,  let  her  be  told  that 
she  can  escape  the  death  penalty. 

Here  it  is  asked  whether,  in  the  case 
of  a  prisoner  legally  convicted  by  her 
general  bad  reputation,  by  witnesses, 
and  by  the  evidence  of  the  fact,  so  that 
the  only  thing  lacking  is  a  confession 
of  the  crime  from  her  own  mouth,  the 
Judge  can  lawfully  promise  her  her 
life,  whereas  if  she  were  to  confess 
the  crime  she  would  suffer  the  extreme 
penalty. 

We  answer  that  different  people  have 
various  opinions  on  this  question.  For 
some  hold  that  if  the  accused  is  of  a 
notoriously  bad  reputation,  and  gravely 
suspected  on  unequivocal  evidence  of 
the  crime;  and  if  she  is  herself  a  great 


226 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  14. 


source  of  danger,  as  being  the  mistress 
of  other  witches,  then  she  may  be 
promised  her  life  on  the  following  con¬ 
ditions  :  that  she  be  sentenced  to  im¬ 
prisonment  for  life  on  bread  and  water, 
provided  that  she  supply  evidence 
which  will  lead  to  the  conviction  of 
other  witches.  And  she  is  not  to  be 
told,  when  she  is  promised  her  life,  that 
she  is  to  be  imprisoned  in  this  way ;  but 
should  be  led  to  suppose  that  some 
other  penance,  such  as  exile,  will  be 
imposed  on  her  as  punishment.  And 
without  doubt  notorious  witches,  especi¬ 
ally  such  as  use  witches’  medicines  and 
cure  the  bewitched  by  superstitious 
means,  should  be  kept  in  this  way, 
both  that  they  may  help  the  bewitched, 
and  that  they  may  betray  other  witches. 
But  such  a  betrayal  by  them  must  not 
be  considered  of  itself  sufficient  ground 
for  a  conviction,  since  the  devil  is  a 
liar,  unless  it  is  also  substantiated  by 
the  evidence  of  the  fact,  and  by 
witnesses. 

Others  think  that,  after  she  has  been 
consigned  to  prison  in  this  way,  the 
promise  to  spare  her  life  should  be 
kept  for  a  time,  but  that  after  a  certain 
period  she  should  be  burned. 

A  third  opinion  is  that  the  Judge 
may  safely  promise  the  accused  her 
life,  but  in  such  a  way  that  he  should 
afterwards  disclaim  the  duty  of  passing 
sentence  on  her,  deputing  another 
Judge  in  his  place. 

There  seems  to  be  some  advantage 
in  pursuing  the  first  of  these  courses 
on  account  of  the  benefit  which  may 
accrue  from  it  to  those  who  are  be¬ 
witched;  yet  it  is  not  lawful  to  use 
witchcraft  to  cure  witchcraft,  although 
(as  was  shown  in  the  First  and  Intro¬ 
ductory  Question  to  this  Third  Part) 
the  general  opinion  is  that  it  is  lawful 
to  use  vain  and  superstitious  means  to 
remove  a  spell.  But  use  and  experience 
and  the  variety  of  such  cases  will  be 
of  more  value  to  Judges  than  any  art 
or  text-book ;  therefore  this  is  a  matter 
which  should  be  left  to  the  Judges. 
But  it  has  certainly  been  very  often 
found  by  experience  that  many  would 
confess  the  truth  if  they  were  not  held 
back  by  the  fear  of  death. 

But  if  neither  threats  nor  such 
promises  will  induce  her  to  confess 
the  truth,  then  the  officers  must  pro¬ 
ceed  with  the  sentence,  and  she  must 
be  examined,  not  in  any  new  or 
exquisite  manner,  but  in  the  usual 


way,  lightly  or  heavily  according  as  the 
nature  of  her  crimes  demands.  And 
while  she  is  being  questioned  about 
each  several  point,  let  her  be  often 
and  frequently  exposed  to  torture, 
beginning  with  the  more  gentle  of 
them ;  for  the  Judge  should  not  be  too 
hasty  to  proceed  to  the  graver  kind. 
And  while  this  is  being  done,  let  the 
Notary  write  all  down,  how  she  is 
tortured  and  what  questions  are  asked 
and  how  she  answers. 

And  note  that,  if  she  confesses  under 
torture,  she  should  then  be  taken  to 
another  place  and  questioned  anew, 
so  that  she  does  not  confess  only  under 
the  stress  of  torture. 

The  next  step  of  the  Judge  should 
be  that,  if  after  being  fittingly  tortured 
she  refuses  to  confess  the  truth,  he 
should  have  other  engines  of  torture 
brought  before  her,  and  tell  her  that 
she  will  have  to  endure  these  if  she 
does  not  confess.  If  then  she  is  not 
induced  by  terror  to  confess,  the  tor¬ 
ture  must  be  continued  on  the  second 
or  third  day,  but  not  repeated  at  that 
present  time  unless  there  should  be 
some  fresh  indication  of  its  probable 
success. 

Let  the  sentence  be  pronounced  in 
her  presence  in  the  following  manner: 
We  the  aforesaid  Judge,  as  above, 
assign  to  you  N.  such  a  day  for  the 
continuation  of  your  questioning,  that 
the  truth  may  be  heard  from  your  own 
mouth.  And  the  Notary  shall  write  all 
down  in  the  process. 

And  during  the  interval  before  that 
assigned  time  the  Judge  himself  or 
other  honest  men  shall  do  all  in  their 
power  to  persuade  her  to  confess  the 
truth  in  the  manner  we  have  said, 
giving  her,  if  it  seems  expedient  to 
them,  a  promise  that  her  life  will  be 
spared. 

The  Judge  should  also  take  care  that 
during  that  interval  there  should  always 
be  guards  with  her,  so  that  she  is  never 
left  alone,  for  fear  lest  the  devil  will 
cause  her  to  kill  herself.  But  the  devil 
himself  knows  better  than  anyone  can 
set  down  in  writing  whether  he  will 
desert  her  of  his  own  will,  or  be  com¬ 
pelled  to  do  so  by  God. 


☆ 


227 


Part  III.  Question  15.  MALEFICARUM 


QUESTION  XV 

Of  the  Continuing  of  the  Torture ,  and  of 
the  Devices  and  Signs  by  which  the 
Judge  can  Recognize  a  Witch;  and  how 
he  ought  to  Protect  himself  from  their 
Spells.  Also  how  they  are  to  be  Shaved \ 
in  those  Parts  where  they  use  to  Conceal 
their  Devil’s  Masks  and  Tokens  to¬ 
gether  with  the  due  Setting  Forth  of 
Various  Means  of  Overcoming  their ' 
Obstinacy  in  Keeping  Silence  and  Re¬ 
fusal  to  Confess.  And  it  is  the  Tenth 
Action. 

THE  Judge  should  act  as  follows 
in  the  continuation  of  the  torture. 
First  he  should  bear  in  mind  that,  just 
as  the  same  medicine  is  not  applicable 
to  all  the  members,  but  there  are 
various  and  distinct  salves  for  each 
several  member,  so  not  all  heretics 
or  those  accused  of  heresy  are  to  be 
subjected  to  the  same  method  of  ques¬ 
tioning,  examination  and  torture  as  to 
the  charges  laid  against  them ;  but 
various  and  different  means  are  to  be 
employed  according  to  their  various 
natures  and  persons.  Now  a  surgeon 
cuts  off  rotten  limbs ;  and  mangy  sheep 
are  isolated  from  the  healthy;  but  a 
prudent  Judge  will  not  consider  it  safe 
to  bind  himself  down  to  one  invariable 
rule  in  his  method  of  dealing  with  a 
prisoner  who  is  endowed  with  a  witch’s 
power  of  taciturnity,  and  whose  silence 
he  is  unable  to  overcome.  For  if  the 
sons  of  darkness  were  to  become  accus¬ 
tomed  to  one  general  rule  they  would 
provide  means  of  evading  it  as  a  well- 
known  snare  set  for  their  destruction. 

Therefore  a  prudent  and  zealous 
Judge  should  seize  his  opportunity  and 
choose  his  method  of  conducting  his 
examination  according  to  the  answers 
or  depositions  of  the  witnesses,  or  as 
his  own  previous  experience  or  native 
wit  indicates  to  him,  using  the  following 
precautions. 

If  he  wishes  to  find  out  whether  she 
is  endowed  with  a  witch’s  power  of 
preserving  silence,  let  him  take  note 
whether  she  is  able  to  shed  tears  when 
standing  in  his  presence,  or  when 
being  tortured.  For  we  are  taught  both 
by  the  words  of  worthy  men  of  old  and 
by  our  own  experience  that  this  is  a 
most  certain  sign,  and  it  has  been 
found  that  even  if  she  be  urged  and 
exhorted  by  solemn  conjurations  to 
shed  tears,  if  she  be  a  witch  she  will 


not  be  able  to  weep :  although  she  will 
assume  a  tearful  aspect  and  smear  her 
cheeks  and  eyes  with  spittle  to  make  it 
appear  that  she  is  weeping;  wherefore 
she  must  be  closely  watched  by  the 
attendants. 

In  passing  sentence  the  Judge  or 
priest  may  use  some  such  method  as 
the  following  in  conjuring  her  to  true 
tears  if  she  be  innocent,  or  in  restrain¬ 
ing  false  tears.  Let  him  place  his  hand 
on  the  head  of  the  accused  and  say :  I 
conjure  you  by  the  bitter  tears  shed  on 
the  Gross  by  our  Saviour  the  Lord 
JESUS  Christ  for  the  salvation  of  the 
world,  and  by  the  burning  tears  poured 
in  the  evening  hour  over  His  wounds 
by  the  most  glorious  Virgin  MARY, 
His  Mother,  and  by  all  the  tears* 
which  have  been  shed  here  in  this 
world  by  the  Saints  and  Elect  of  God, 
from  whose  eyes  He  has  now  wiped 
away  all  tears,  that  if  you  be  innocent 
you  do  now  shed  tears,  but  if  you  be 
guilty  that  you  shall  by  no  means  do 
so.  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
Amen. 

And  it  is  found  by  experience  that 
the  more  they  are  conjured  the  less 
are  they  able  to  weep,  however  hard 
they  may  try  to  do  so,  or  smear  their 
cheeks  with  spittle.  Nevertheless  it  is 
possible  that  afterwards,  in  the  absence 
of  the  Judge  and  not  at  the  time  or  in 
the  place  of  torture,  they  may  be  able 
to  weep  in  the  presence  of  their  gaolers. 

And  as  for  the  reason  for  a  witch’s 
inability  to  weep,  it  can  be  said  that 
the  grace  of  tears  is  one  of  the  chief 
gifts  allowed  to  the  penitent;  for  S. 
Bernard  tells  us  that  the  tears  of  the 
humble  can  penetrate  to  heaven  and 
conquer  the  unconquerable.  Therefore 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  are 


*  “Tears.”  The  beautiful  devotion,  to  the 
Sacred  Tears  of  Our  Lord  is  well  known.  The 
Premonstratensians  have  a  Mass ,  “De  Lacryma 
Christi ,”  proper  to  the  Order. 

Our  Lady  of  Tears ,  Santa  Maria  delle 
Lagrime,  is  the  Patroness  of  Spoleto.  A  picture 
of  Our  Lady,  painted  upon  the  wall  of  the  house 
belonging  to  Diotallevio  d’ Antonio,  which  stood 
on  the  road  from  Spoleto  to  Trevi,  was  seen  to 
shed  tears  in  great  abundance.  Many  graces  and 
favours  were  obtained  before  the  miraculous 
picture.  A  small  chapel  was  erected  on  the  spot 
in  August,  1485,  and  Mass  was  daily  offered 
therein.  On  27  March,  1487,  the  large  basilica 
was  begun,  which  on  its  completion ,  8  March , 
148 g,  was  entrusted  to  the  Olivetans. 


228 


MALLEUS  Part  III.  Question  15. 


displeasing  to  the  devil,  and  that  he 
uses  all  his  endeavour  to  restrain  them, 
to  prevent  a  witch  from  finally  attaining 
to  penitence. 

But  it  may  be  objected  that  it  mi^ht 
suit  with  the  devil’s  cunning,  with 
God’s  permission,  to  allow  even  a  witch 
to  weep ;  since  tearful  grieving,  weaving 
and  deceiving  are  said  to  be  proper  to 
women.  We  may  answer  that  in  this 
case,  since  the  judgements  of  God  are  a 
mystery,  if  there  is  no  other  way  of 
convicting  the  accused,  by  legitimate 
witnesses  or  the  evidence  of  the  fact, 
and  if  she  is  not  under  a  strong  or 
grave  suspicion,  she  is  to  be  discharged ; 
but  because  she  rests  under  a  slight 
suspicion  by  reason  of  her  reputation 
to  which  the  witnesses  have  testified, 
she  must  be  required  to  abjure  the 
heresy  of  witchcraft,  as  we  shall  show 
when  we  deal  with  the  second  method 
of  pronouncing  sentence. 

A  second  precaution  is  to  be  observed, 
not  only  at  this  point  but  during  the 
whole  process,  by  the  Judge  and  all  his 
assessors ;  namely,  that  they  must  not 
allow  themselves  to  be  touched  physic¬ 
ally  by  the  witch,  especially  in  any 
contact  of  their  bare  arms  or  hands; 
but  they  must  always  carry  about 
them  some  salt  consecrated  on  Palm 
Sunday  and  some  Blessed  Herbs.  For 
these  can  be  enclosed  together  in 
Blessed  Wax*  and  worn  round  the 
neck,  as  we  showed  in  the  Second  Part 
when  we  discussed  the  remedies  against 
illnesses  and  diseases  caused  by  witch¬ 
craft  ;  and  that  these  have  a  wonderful 
protective  virtue  is  known  not  only 
from  the  testimony  of  witches,  but  from 
the  use  and  practice  of  the  Church, 
which  exorcizes  and  blesses  such  objects 
for  this  very  purpose,  as  is  shown  in 
the  ceremony  of  exorcism  when  it  is 
said,  For  the  banishing  of  all  the  power 
of  the  devil,  etc. 

But  let  it  not  be  thought  that  physical 
contact  of  the  joints  or  limbs  is  the  only 
thing  to  be  guarded  against ;  for  some¬ 
times,  with  God’s  permission,  they  are 
\  able  with  the  help  of  the  devil  to  be¬ 
witch  the  Judge  by  the  mere  sound  of 
the  words  which  they  utter,  especially 

*  “ Blessed  Wax.”  The  “Agnus  Dei”  which 
is  a  disc  of  wax ,  stamped  with  the  figure  of  a 
Lamb,  and  on  certain  stated  days  blessed  by  the 
Holy  Father.  These  Agnus  Deis  may  either  be 
worn  suspended  round  the  neck ,  or  preserved  as 
objects  of  devotion .  They  are  to  be  regarded  as 
Sacramentals. 


at  the  time  when  they  are  exposed  to 
torture. 

And  we  know  from  experience  that 
some  witches,  when  detained  in  prison, 
have  importunately  begged  their  gaolers 
to  grant  them  this  one  thing,  that  they 
should  be  allowed  to  look  at  the  Judge 
before  he  looks  at  them;  and  by  so 
getting  the  first  sight  of  the  Judge  they 
have  been  able  so  to  alter  the  minds 
of  the  Judge  or  his  assessors  that  they 
have  lost  all  their  anger  against  them 
and  have  not  presumed  to  molest  them 
in  any  way,  but  have  allowed  them  to 
go  free.  He  who  knows  and  has  experi¬ 
enced  it  gives  this  true  testimony;  and 
would  that  they  were  not  able  to  effect 
such  things! 

Let  judges  not  despise  such  pre¬ 
cautions  and  protections,  for  by  hold¬ 
ing  them  in  little  account  after  such 
warning  they  run  the  risk  of  eternal 
damnation.  For  our  Saviour  said:  If 
I  had  not  come,  and  spoken  to  them, 
they  would  not  have  sin ;  but  now  they 
have  no  excuse  for  their  sin.f  There¬ 
fore  let  the  judges  protect  themselves 
in  the  above  manner,  according  to  the 
provisions  of  the  Church. 

And  if  it  can  conveniently  be  done,  j 
the  witch  should  be  led  backward  into 
the  presence  of  the  Judge  and  his  asses¬ 
sors.  And  not  only  at  the  present  point, 
but  in  all  that  has  preceded  or  shall 
follow  it,  let  him  cross  himself  and 
approach  her  manfully,  and  with  God’s 
help  the  power  of  that  old  Serpent  will 
be  broken.  And  no  one  need  think  that 
it  is  superstitious  to  lead  her  in  back¬ 
wards;  for,  as  we  have  often  said,  ther 
Canonists  allow  even  more  than  this 
to  be  done  for  the  protection  against 
witchcraft,  and  always  say  that  it  is 
lawful  to  oppose  vanity  with  vanity. 

The  third  precaution  to  be  observed 
in  this  tenth  action  is  that  the  hair 
should  be  shaved  from  every  part  of 
her  body.  The  reason  for  this  is  the 
same  as  that  for  stripping  her  of  her 
clothes,  which  we  have  already  men¬ 
tioned;  for  in  order  to  preserve  their 
power  of  silence  they  are  in  the  habit 
of  hiding  some  superstitious  object  in 
their  clothes  or  in  their  hair,  or  even 
in  the  most  secret  parts  of  their  bodies 
which  must  not  be  named. 

But  it  may  be  objected  that  the 
devil  might,  without  the  use  of  such 
charms,  so  harden  the  heart  of  a  witch 


f  “Sin”  “S.  John ”  xv ,  92. 


229 


Part  III.  Question  15.  MALEFICARUM 


that  she  is  unable  to  confess  her  crimes ; 
just  as  it  is  often  found  in  the  case  of 
other  criminals,  no  matter  how  great 
the  tortures  to  which  they  are  exposed, 
or  how  much  they  are  convicted  by 
the  evidence  of  the  facts  and  of  wit¬ 
nesses.  We  answer  that  it  is  true  that 
the  devil  can  effect  such  taciturnity 
without  the  use  of  such  charms ;  but  he 
prefers  to  use  them  for  the  perdition 
of  souls  and  the  greater  offence  to  the 
Divine  Majesty  of  God. 

This  can  be  made  clear  from  the 
example  of  a  certain  witch  in  the  town 
of  Hagenau,  whom  we  have  mentioned 
in  the  Second  Part  of  this  work.  She 
used  to  obtain  this  gift  of  silence*  in 
the  following  manner :  she  killed  a 
newly-born  first-born  male  child  who 
had  not  been  baptized,  and  having 
roasted  it  in  an  oven  together  with 
other  matters  which  it  is  not  expedient 
to  mention,  ground  it  to  powder  and 
ashes;  and  if  any  witch  or  criminal 
carried  about  him  some  of  this  sub¬ 
stance  he  would  in  no  way  be  able  to 
confess  his  crimes. 

Here  it  is  clear  that  a  hundred 
thousand  children  so  employed  could 
not  of  their  own  virtue  endow  a  person 
with  such  a  power  of  keeping  silence ; 
but  any  intelligent  person  can  under¬ 
stand  that  such  means  are  used  by  the 
devil  for  the  perdition  of  souls  and  to 
offend  the  Divine  Majesty. 

Again,  it  may  be  objected  that  very 
often  criminals  who  are  not  witches 
exhibit  the  same  power  of  keeping 
silence.  In  answer  to  this  it  must  be 
said  that  this  power  of  taciturnity  can 
proceed  from  three  causes.  First,  from 
a  natural  hardness  of  heart ;  for  some 
are  soft-hearted,  or  even  feeble-minded, 


*  11  Gift  of  Silence .”  De  Lancre ,  “ Tableau 
de  Vinconstance  des  mauvais  anges  et  demons ,” 
Paris ,  1612,  has:  “ Pour  ne  confesser  iamais  le 
secret  de  Vescole ,  on  faict  au  sahbat  me  paste  de 
millet  noir ,  awe  de  la  poudre  du  foyer  de  quelque 
enfant  non  baptisi  qu'on  faict  seeker,  puis  meslant 
cette  poudre  avec  ladicte  paste ,  elle  a  cette  vertu 
de  tociturnite;  si  bien  que  qui  en  mange  ne  con¬ 
fesse  iamais .”  Five  Forfar  witches,  of  which  one 
was  Helen  Guthrie,  in  1661  dug  up  the  body  of 
an  unbaptized  infant ,  which  was  buried  in  the 
churchyard  near  the  south-east  door  of  the  church 
(iand  took  sever  all  peices  thereof,  as  the  feet , 
hands,  pairt  of  the  head,  and  a  pairt  of  the 
buttocks,  and  they  made  a  py  thereof,  that  they 
might  eat  of  it,  that  by  this  meanes  they  might 
never  make  a  confession  (as  they  thought)  of  their 
witchcraft .” 


so  that  at  the  slightest  torture  they 
admit  everything,  even  some  things 
which  are  not  true ;  whereas  others  are 
so  hard  that  however  much  they  are 
tortured  the  truth  is  not  to  be  had 
from  them;  and  this  is  especially  the 
case  with  those  who  have  been  tortured 
before,  even  if  their  arms  are  suddenly 
stretched  and  twisted. 

Secondly,  it  may  proceed  from  some 
instrument  of  witchcraft  carried  about 
the  person,  as  has  been  said,  either  in 
the  clothes  or  in  the  hairs  of  the  body. 
And  thirdly,  even  if  the  prisoner  has 
no  such  object  secreted  about  her 
person,  they  are  sometimes  endowed 
with  this  power  by  other  witches,  how¬ 
ever  far  they  may  be  removed  from 
them.  For  a  certain  witch  at  Issbrug  * 
used  to  boast  that,  if  she  had  no  more 
than  a  thread  from  the  garments  of 
any  prisoner,  she  could  so  work  that 
however  much  that  prisoner  were  ; 
tortured,  even  to  death,  she  would  be 
unable  to  confess  anything.  So  the 
answer  to  this  objection  is  clear. 

But  what  is  to  be  said  of  a  case  that  ] 
happened  in  the  Diocese  of  Ratisbon? 
Gertain  heretics  were  convicted  by  j 
their  own  confession  not  only  as  im¬ 
penitent  but  as  open  advocates  of  that 
perfidy ;  and  when  they  were  con¬ 
demned  to  death  it  happened  that  they 
remained  mharmed  in  the  fire.  At 
length  their  sentence  was  altered  to 
death  by  drowning,  but  this  was  no 
more  effective.  All  were  astonished, 
and  some  even  began  to  say  that  their 
heresy  must  be  true;  and  the  Bishop, 
in  great  anxiety  for  his  flock,  ordered 
a  three  days’  fast.  When  this  had  been 
devoutly  fulfilled,  it  came  to  the  know¬ 
ledge  of  someone  that  those  heretics 
had  a  magic  charm  sewed  between  the 
skin  and  the  flesh  under  one  arm;  and 
when  this  was  found  and  removed, 
they  were  delivered  to  the  flames  and 
immediately  burned.  Some  say  that  a 
certain  necromancer  learned  this  secret 
during  a  consultation  with  a  devil,  and 
betrayed  it;  but  however  it  became 
known,  it  is  probable  that  the  devil, 
who  is  always  scheming  for  the  sub¬ 
version  of  the  faith,  was  in  some  way 
compelled  by  Divine  power  to  reveal 
the  matter. 

From  this  it  may  be  seen  what  a 
Judge  ought  to  do  when  such  a  case 
happens  to  him :  namely,  that  he  should 
rely  upon  the  protection  of  God,  and 
by  the  prayers  and  fasting  of  devout 


230 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  16. 


persons  drive  away  this  sort  of  devil’s 
work  from  witches,  in  those  cases  where 
they  cannot  be  made  to  confess  under 
torture  even  after  their  clothes  have 
been  changed  and  all  their  hair  has 
been  shaved  off  and  abraded. 

Now  in  the  parts  of  Germany  such 
shaving,  especially  of  the  secret  parts, 
is  not  generally  considered  delicate,  and 
therefore  we  Inquisitors  do  not  use  it; 
but  we  cause  the  hair  of  their  head  to 
be  cut  off,  and  placing  a  morsel  of 
Blessed  Wax  in  a  cup  of  Holy  Water 
and  invoking  the  most  Holy  Trinity, 
we  give  it  them  to  drink  three  times  on 
a  fasting  stomach,  and  by  the  grace  of 
God  we  have  by  this  means  caused 
many  to  break  their  silence.  But  in 
other  countries  the  Inquisitors  order 
the  witch  to  be  shaved  all  over  her 
body.  And  the  Inquisitor  of  Como  has 
informed  us  that  last  year,  that  is,  in 
1485,  he  ordered  forty-one  witches  to 
be  burned,  after  they  had  been  shaved 
all  over.  And  this  was  in  the  district 
and  county  of  Burbia,  commonly  called 
Wormserbad,  in  the  territory  of  the 
Archduke  of  Austria,  towards  Milan. 

But  it  may  be  asked  whether,  in  a 
time  of  need,  when  all  other  means  of 
breaking  a  witch’s  silence  have  failed, 
it  would  be  lawful  to  ask  the  advice 
in  this  matter  of  sorceresses  who  are 
able  to  cure  those  who  are  bewitched. 
We  answer  that,  whatever  may  have 
been  done  in  that  matter  at  Ratisbon, 
it  is  our  earnest  admonition  in  the 
Lord  that  no  one,  no  matter  how  great 
may  be  the  need,  should  consult  with 
sorceresses  on  behalf  of  the  State ;  and 
this  because  of  the  great  offence  which 
is  thereby  caused  to  the  Divine  Majesty, 
when  there  are  so  many  other  means 
open  to  us  which  we  may  use  either  in 
their  own  proper  form  or  in  some 
equivalent  form,  so  that  the  truth  will 
be  had  from  their  own  mouths  and  they 
can  be  consigned  to  the  flames ;  or  fail- 
ing  this,  God  will  in  the  meantime 
provide  some  other  death  for  the 
witch. 

For  there  remain  to  us  the  following 
remedies  against  this  power  of  silence. 
First,  let  a  man  do  all  that  lies  in  his 
own  power  by  the  exercise  of  his  own 
qualities,  persisting  often  with  the 
methods  we  have  already  mentioned, 
and  especially  on  certain  days,  as  will 
be  shown  in  the  following  Question. 
See  II.  Corinthians  ix :  That  ye  may 
abound  in  all  good  works. 


Secondly,  if  this  should  fail,  let  him 
consult  with  other  persons;  for  per¬ 
haps  they  may  think  of  some  means 
which  has  not  occurred  to  him,  since 
there  are  various  methods  of  counter¬ 
acting  witchcraft. 

Thirdly,  if  these  two  fail,  let  him 
have  recourse  to  devout  persons,  as  it 
is  said  in  Ecclesiasticus  xxxvii :  Be  con¬ 
tinually  with  a  godly  man,  whom  thou 
knowest  to  keep  the  commandments  of 
the  Lord.  Also  let  him  invoke  the  Patron 
Saints  of  the  country.  But  if  all  these 
fail,  let  the  Judge  and  all  the  people  at 
once  put  their  trust  in  God  with 
prayers  and  fasting,  that  the  witch¬ 
craft  may  be  removed  by  reason  of 
their  piety.  For  so  Josaphat  prayed  in 
II.  Paralipomenon  xx:  When  we  know 
not  what  we  should  do,  we  have  this 
one  refuge,  that  we  should  turn  our 
eyes  to  Thee.  And  without  doubt  God 
will  not  fail  us  in  our  need. 

To  this  effect  also  S.  Augustine 
speaks  (26,  q.  7,  non  obseruabitis) :  Who¬ 
soever  observes  any  divinations  or 
auguries,  or  attends  to  or  consents  to 
such  as  observe  them,  or  gives  credit 
to  such  by  following  after  their  works, 
or  goes  into  their  houses,  or  introduces 
them  into  his  own  house,  or  asks  ques¬ 
tions  of  them,  let  him  know  that  he 
has  perverted  the  Christian  faith  and 
his  baptism  and  is  a  pagan  and  apos¬ 
tate  and  enemy  of  God,  and  runs  grave 
danger  of  the  eternal  wrath  of  God, 
unless  he  is  corrected  by  ecclesiastical 
penances  and  is  reconciled  with  God. 
Therefore  let  the  Judge  not  fail  always 
to  use  the  lawful  remedies,  as  we  have 
said,  together  with  these  following  final 
precautions. 

*  &» 

QUESTION  XVI 

Of  the  jit  Time  and  of  the  Method  of  the 
Second  Examination.  And  it  is  the 
Eleventh  Action ,  concerning  the  Final 
Precautions  to  be  Observed  by  the  Judge. 

THERE  are  one  or  two  points  to  be 
noted  with  regard  to  what  we  have 
just  written.  First,  that  witches  should 
be  questioned  on  the  more  Holy  Days 
and  during  the  solemnization  of  the 
Mass,  and  that  the  people  should  be 
exhorted  to  pray  for  Divine  help,  not  in 
any  specific  manner,  but  that  they 
should  invoke  the  prayers  of  the  Saints 
against  all  the  plagues  of  the  devil. 


231 


Part  III.  Question  16.  MALEFICARUM 


Secondly,  as  we  have  said  before,  the 
Judge  should  wear  round  his  neck  Con¬ 
secrated  Salt  and  other  matters,  with 
the  Seven  Words  which  Christ  uttered 
on  the  Cross  written  in  a  schedule,  and 
all  bound  together.  And  he  should,  if 
he  conveniently  can,  wear  these  made 
into  the  length  of  Christ’s  stature  against 
his  naked  body,  and  bind  other  Holy 
things  about  him.  For  it  is  shown  by 
experience  that  witches  are  greatly 
troubled  by  these  things,  and  can 
hardly  refrain  from  confessing  the  truth. 
The  Relics  of  the  Saints,  too,  are  of 
especial  virtue. 

Having  taken  these  precautions,  and 
after  giving  her  Holy  Water  to  drink, 
let  him  again  begin  to  question  her,  all 
the  time  exhorting  her  as  before.  And 
while  she  is  raised  from  the  ground,  if 
she  is  being  tortured  in  this  way,  let  the 
Judge  read  or  cause  to  be  read  to  her 
the  depositions  of  the  witnesses  with 
their  names,  saying:  “See!  You  are 
convicted  by  the  witnesses.”  Also,  if  the 
witnesses  are  willing  to  confront  her 
face  to  face,  the  Judge  shall  ask  her  if 
she  will  confess  if  the  witnesses  are 
brought  before  her.  And  if  she  consents, 
let  the  witnesses  be  brought  in  and 
stand  before  her,  so  that  she  may  be 
constrained  or  shamed  into  confessing 
some  of  her  crimes. 

Finally,  if  he  sees  that  she  will  not 
admit  her  crimes,  he  shall  ask  her 
whether,  to  prove  her  innocence,  she  is 
ready  to  undergo  the  ordeal  by  red-hot 
iron.  And  they  all  desire  this,  knowing 
that  the  devil  will  prevent  them  from 
being  hurt;  therefore  a  true  witch  is 
exposed  in  this  manner.  The  Judge 
shall  ask  her  how  she  can  be  so  rash  as 
to  run  so  great  a  risk,  and  all  shall  be 
written  down ;  but  it  will  be  shown  later 
that  they  are  never  to  be  allowed  to 
undergo  this  ordeal  by  red-hot  iron. 

Let  the  Judge  also  note  that  when 
witches  are  questioned  on  a  Friday, 
while  the  people  are  gathered  together 
at  Holy  Mass  to  await  our  Saviour,  they 
very  often  confess. 

But  we  must  proceed  to  the  extreme 
case,  when  after  every  expedient  has 
been  tried  the  witch  still  maintains 
silence.  The  Judge  shall  then  loose  her 
and,  using  the  precautions  which  follow, 
shall  take  her  from  the  place  of  punish¬ 
ment  to  another  place  under  a  strong 
guard ;  but  let  him  take  particular  care 
not  to  release  her  on  any  sort  of  secur¬ 
ity;  for  when  that  is  done,  they  never 


confess  the  truth,  but  always  become 
worse. 

But  in  the  first  place  let  him  cause  her 
to  be  well  treated  in  the  matter  of  food 
and  drink,  and  meanwhile  let  honest 
persons  who  are  under  no  suspicion 
enter  to  her  and  talk  often  with  her  on 
indifferent  subjects,  and  finally  advise 
her  in  confidence  to  confess  the  truth, 
promising  that  the  Judge  will  be  merci¬ 
ful  to  her  and  that  they  will  intercede 
for  her.  And  finally  let  the  Judge  come 
in  and  promise  that  he  will  be  merciful, 
with  the  mental  reservation  that  he 
means  he  will  be  "merciful  to  himself  or 
the  State ;  for  whatever  is  done  for  the 
safety  of  the  State  is  merciful. 

But  if  he  promises  her  her  life,  as  we 
showed  in  Question  XIV  that  he  can 
do  in  three  ways,  let  it  all  be  written 
down  by  the  Notary  in  what  words  and 
with  what  intention  mercy  was  pro¬ 
mised.  And  if  the  accused  begs  for 
mercy  in  this  way,  and  discovers  her 
crime,  let  her  be  promised  in  a  vague 
and  general  way  that  she  will  receive 
even  more  than  she  has  petitioned  for, 
so  that  she  may  speak  with  the  greater 
confidence. 

As  a  second  precaution  in  this  case, 
when  she  refuses  altogether  to  reveal 
the  truth,  the  Judge  should,  as  we  have 
said  before,  examine  her  friends  and 
associates  without  her  knowledge ;  and 
if  these  have  deposed  anything  which 
might  lead  to  her  conviction,  this  must 
be  diligently  investigated.  Also,  if  any 
instruments  or  unguents  or  boxes  have 
been  found  in  her  house,  they  should 
be  shown  to  her,  and  she  should  be 
asked  for  what  purpose  they  have  been 
used. 

A  third  precaution  can  be  taken  when 
she  still  persists  in  her  obstinacy  after 
her  associates  have  been  examined  and 
borne  witness  against  her,  and  not  for 
her.  If  she  has  no  friends,  let  some 
other  trustworthy  man  who  is  known 
to  be  congenial  to  the  accused  and  to 
some  extent  a  patron  of  hers,  enter  to 
the  witch  one  evening  and  engage  her 
in  a  protracted  conversation.  And  then, 
if  he  is  not  an  accomplice,  let  him  pre¬ 
tend  that  it  is  too  late  for  him  to  return, 
and  stay  in  the  prison  with  her,  and 
continue  talking  during  the  night.  And 
if  he  is  an  accomplice,  let  them  eat  and 
drink  together,  and  talk  to  each  other 
about  the  things  they  have  done.  And 
then  let  it  be  arranged  that  spies  should 
stand  outside  in  a  convenient  place,  and 


232 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  16. 


listen  to  them  and  take  note  of  their 
words,  and  if  necessary  let  them  have  a 
scribe  with  them. 

As  a  fourth  precaution,  if  she  then 
begins  to  tell  the  truth,  let  the  Judge  on 
no  accouht  postpone  hearing  her  con¬ 
fession,  even  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 
but  proceed  with  it  to  the  best  of  his 
ability.  And  if  it  is  in  the  day-time,  let 
him  not  care  if  he  delays  his  luncheon 
or  dinner,  but  persist  until  she  has  told 
the  truth,  at  least  in  the  main.  For  it  is 
generally  found  that,  after  postpone¬ 
ments  and  interruptions,  they  return* 
to  their  vomit  and  will  not  reveal  the 
truth  which  they  began  to  confess, 
having  thought  worse  of  it. 

And  let  the  Judge  take  note  that, 
after  she  has  confessed  the  injuries  done 
to  men  and  animals,  he  shall  ask  her 
for  how  many  years  she  has  had  an 
Incubus  devil,  and  how  long  it  is  since 
she  abjured  the  faith.  For  they  never 
confess  to  these  matters  unless  they  have 
first  confessed  their  other  deeds ;  there¬ 
fore  they  must  be  asked  concerning 
these  last  of  all. 

As  a  fifth  precaution,  when  all  the 
above  have  failed,  let  her,  if  possible, 
be  led  to  some  castle ;  and  after  she  has 
been  kept  there  under  custody  for  some 
days,  let  the  castellan  pretend  that  he 
is  going  on  a  long  journey.  And  then 
let  some  of  his  household,  or  even  some 
honest  women,  visit  her  and  promise 
that  they  will  set  her  entirely  at  liberty 
if  she  will  teach  them  how  to  conduct 
certain  practices.  And  let  the  Judge 
take  note  that  by  this  means  they  have 
very  often  confessed  and  been  con¬ 
victed. 

Quite  lately  a  witch  was  detained  in 
the  Castle  of  Konigsheim  near  the  town 
of  Schlettstadt  in  the  Diocese  of  Stras- 
burg,  and  could  not  be  induced  by  any 
tortures  or  questions  to  confess  her 
crimes.  But  at  last  the  castellan  used 
the  method  we  have  just  described. 
Although  he  was  himself  present  in  the 
castle,  the  witch  thought  he  was  away, 
and  three  of  his  household  came  in  to 
her  and  promised  they  would  set  her 
free  if  she  would  teach  them  how  to  do 


*  “They  Return.”  “ Proverbs ”  xxvi,  n:  “As 
a,  dog  that  returneth  to  his  vomit ,  so  is  the  fool 
that  repeateth  his  folly.”  II.  S.  Peter ,  ii,  22: 
“For,  that  of  the  true  proverb  has  happened  to 
them:  the  dog  is  returned  to  his  vomit:  and,  The 
sow  that  was  washed,  to  her  wallowing  in  the 
mire.” 


certain  things.  At  first  she  refused,  say¬ 
ing  that  they  were  trying  to  entrap  her ; 
but  at  last  she  asked  what  it  was  that 
they  wanted  to  know.  And  one  asked 
how  to  raise  a  hailstorm,  and  another 
asked  about  carnal  matters.  When  at 
length  she  agreed  to  show  him  how  to 
raise  a  hailstorm,  and  a  bowl  of  water 
had  been  brought  in,  the  witch  told  him 
to  stir  the  water  a  little  with  his  finger, 
and  herself  uttered  certain  words ;  and 
suddenly  the  place  which  he  had 
named,  a  wood  near  the  castle,  was 
visited  by  such  a  tempest  and  storm  of 
hail  as  had  not  been  seen  for  many 
years. 

It  yet  remains  to  show  how  the  Judge 
is  to  proceed  in  pronouncing  sentence 
in  a  case  where  all  these  means  have 
failed,  or  what  is  further  to  be  done 
even  when  she  has  confessed  her  crimes, 
that  the  whole  process  may  be  brought 
to  an  end;  and  we  shall  complete  this 
Last  Part  of  this  work  with  a  considera¬ 
tion  of  these  matters. 

☆  * 

THE  THIRD  HEAD 

Which  is  the  Last  Part  of  the  Work:  How 
the  Process  is  to  be  Concluded  by  the 
Pronouncement  of  a  Definite  and  Just 
Sentence. 

HAVING  by  the  grace  of  God 
examined  the  proper  means  of 
arriving  at  a  knowledge  of  the  heresy 
of  witchcraft,  and  having  shown  how 
the  process  on  behalf  of  the  faith  should 
be  initiated  and  proceeded  with,  it 
remains  to  discuss  how  that  process  is 
to  be  brought  to  a  fitting  termination 
with  an  appropriate  sentence. 

Here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  this  heresy, 
as  was  shown  in  the  beginning  of  this 
Last  Part,  is  not  to  be  confused  with 
other  simple  heresies,  since  it  is  obvious 
that  it  is  not  a  pure  and  single  crime, 
but  partly  ecclesiastical  and  pardy  civil. 
Therefore  in  dealing  with  the  methods 
of  passing  sentence,  we  must  first  con¬ 
sider  a  certain  kind  of  sentence  to  which 
witches  are  in  the  habit  of  appealing,  in 
which  the  secular  judge  can  act  on  his 
own  account  independently  of  the  Ordi¬ 
nary.  Secondly,  we  shall  consider  those 
in  which  he  cannot  act  without  the 
Ordinary.  And  so  thirdly  it  will  be 
shown  how  the  Ordinaries  can  dis¬ 
charge  themselves  of  their  duties. 


Part  III.  Question  17.  MALEFICARUM 


233 


QUESTION  XVII 

• 

Of  Common  Purgation ,  and  especially  of  the 
Trial  by  Red-hot  Iron ,  to  which  Witches 
Appeal. 

THE  question  is  now  asked  whether 
the  secular  judge  may  allow  a  witch 
to  be  submitted  to  a  common  purgation 
(concerning  which  see  the  Canon  2, 
q.  4,  consuluisti ,  and  cap.  monomachiam) , 
in  the  manner  in  which  a  civil  defendant 
is  allowed  the  trial  by  ordeal,  as,  for 
example,  that  by  red-hot  iron.  And  it 
may  seem  that  he  may  do  so. 

For  trial  by  combat  is  allowable  in  a 
criminal  case  for  the  protection  of  life, 
and  in  a  civil  case  for  the  protection  of 
property;  then  wherefore  not  the  trial 
by  red-hot  iron  or  boiling  water?  S. 
Thomas  allows  that  the  former  is  per¬ 
missible  in  some  cases,  when  he  says  in 
the  last  article  of  the  Second  of  the  Second , 
q.  95,  that  a  duel  is  lawful  when  it 
appears  to  be  consonant  with  common- 
sense.  Therefore  the  trial  by  red-hot 
iron  should  also  be  lawful  in  some  cases. 

Also  it  has  been  used  by  many 
Princes  of  saintly  life  who  have  availed 
themselves  of  the  advice  and  counsel  of 
good  men ;  as,  for  example,  the  Sainted 
Emperor  Henry*  in  the  case  of  the 
virgin  Cunegond  whom  he  had  married, 
who  was  suspected  of  adultery. 

Again,  a  judge,  who  is  responsible 

*  “Henry.”  S.  Henry  II,  German  King  and 
Roman  Emperor ,  was  born  372,  and  died  in  his 
palace  of  Grona,  at  Gottingen,  13  July ,  1024. 
He  was  canonized  in  1146  by  Eugenius  III ;  and 
his  wife  Cunegond  on  3  March ,  1200,  by 
Innocent  III.  Later  writers  are  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  ascetic  theme  of  his  maiden  marriage  has 
no  foundation  in  fact.  Saint  Henry  on  assuming 
the  Imperial  dignity  took  to  wife  Cunegond , 
daughter  of  Siegfried,  Count  of  Luxemburg.  It 
has  been  beautifully  said  that  she  shares  her 
husband's  celestial,  as  she  shared  his  earthly 
crown.  When  scandalous  reports  were  circulated 
concerning  her  honour,  although  her  husband 
could  not  for  a  moment  suspect  her  purity,  she 
insisted  upon  an  appeal  to  the  trial  by  ordeal,  and 
having  walked  unhurt  over  the  red-hot  plough¬ 
shares,  publicly  testified  her  innocence.  The  story 
is  immensely  popular  in  German  poetry  and 
German  art.  A  print  by  Hans  Burgkmair  shows 
her  stepping  over  the  shares,  one  of  which  she 
holds  in  her  hand.  Upon  her  shrine  in  the 
»  Cathedral  at  Bambvrg  a  bas-relief  by  Hans 
Thielmann  of  Warzburg  depicts  the  same 
incident.  Having  already  retired  to  a  Bene¬ 
dictine  cloister,  upon  the  death  of  her  husband  S. 
Cunegond  took  the  veil. 


for  the  safety  of  the  community,  may 
lawfully  allow  a  smaller  evil  that  a 
greater  may  be  avoided;  as  he  allows 
the  existence  of  harlots  in  towns  in 
order  to  avoid  a  general  confusion  of 
lust.  For  S.  Augustine  On  Free  Will f 
says :  Take  away  the  harlots,  and  you 
will  create  a  general  chaos  and  con¬ 
fusion  of  lust.  So,  when  a  person  has 
been  loaded  with  insults  and  injuries 
by  any  community,  he  can  clear  him¬ 
self  of  any  criminal  or  civil  charge  by 
means  of  a  trial  by  ordeal. 

Also,  since  less  hurt  is  caused  to  the 
hands  by  the  red-hot  iron  than  is  the 
loss  of  life  in  a  duel,  if  a  duel  is  per¬ 
mitted  where  such  things  are  custom¬ 
ary,  much  more  should  the  trial  by 
red-hot  iron  be  allowed. 

But  the  contrary  view  is  argued  where 
it  says  (2,  q.  5,  monomachiam)  that  they 
who  practise  such  and  similar  things 
appear  to  be  tempting  God.  And  here 
the  Doctors  affirm  it  must  be  noted 
that,  according  to  S.  Paul  (I.  Thessa - 
lonians  v),  we  must  abstain,  not  only 
from  evil,  but  from  all  appearance  of 
evil.  Therefore  the  Canon  says  in  that 
chapter,  not  that  they  who  use  such 
practices  tempt  God,  but  that  they 
appear  to  tempt  Him,  so  that  it  may  be 
understood  that,  even  if  a  man  engage 
in  such  a  trial  with  none  but  good 
intentions,  yet  since  it  has  the  appear¬ 
ance  of  evil,  it  is  to  be  avoided. 

I  answer  that  such  tests  or  trials  are 
unlawful  for  two  reasons.  First,  because 
their  purpose  is  to  judge  of  hidden 
matters  of  which  it  belongs  only  to  God 
to  judge.  Secondly,  because  there  is  no 
Divine  authority  for  such  trials,  nor  are 
they  anywhere  sanctioned  in  the  writ¬ 
ings  of  the  Holy  Fathers.  And  it  says 
in  the  chapter  consuluisti,  2,  q.  5 :  That 
which  is  not  sanctioned  in  the  writings 
of  the  Sainted  Fathers  is  to  be  presumed 
superstitious.  And  Pope  Stephen  X  in 
the  same  chapter  says :  It  is  left  to  your 
judgement  to  try  prisoners  who  are  con¬ 
victed  by  their  own  confession  or  the 

f  “On  Free  Will.”  S.  Augustine's  “ De 
Gratia  et  libero  Arbitrio ”  was  written  426-27. 
It  will  be  found  in  Migne,  “Patres  Latini,” 
xliv,  pp.  881-312. 

f  “Pope  Stephen .”  Stephen  (IX)  X,  elected 
3  August ,  1037;  died  at  Florence,  2g  March, 
1038.  He  was  buried  in  the  church  of  S. 
Reparata.  He  was  distinguished  for  his  learning 
and  even  during  the  few  short  months  of  his 
Pontificate  he  showed  himself  a  zealous  re¬ 
former. 


234 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  17. 


proofs  of  the  evidence;  but  leave  that 
which  is  hidden  and  unknown  to  Him 
Who  alone  knows  the  hearts  of  men. 

There  is,  nevertheless,  a  difference 
between  a  duel  and  the  trial  by  red-hot 
iron  or  boiling  water.  For  a  duel  ap¬ 
pears  to  be  more  humanly  reasonable, 
the  combatants  being  of  similar  strength 
and  skill,  than  a  trial  by  red-hot  iron. 
For  although  the  purpose  of  both  is  to 
search  out  something  hidden  by  means 
of  a  human  act ;  yet  in  the  case  of  trial 
by  red-hot  iron  a  miraculous  effect  is 
looked  for,  whereas  this  is  not  so  in  the 
case  of  a  duel,  in  which  all  that  can 
happen  is  the  death  of  either,  or  both, 
of  the  combatants.  Therefore  the  trial 
by  red-hot  iron  is  altogether  unlawful ; 
though  a  duel  is  not  illegal  to  the  same 
extent.  So  much  has  been  incidentally 
admitted  in  respect  of  duels,  on  account 
of  Princes  and  secular  Judges. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that,  because  of 
those  words  of  S.  Thomas  which  make 
the  above  distinction,  Nicolas  of  Lyra, 
in  his  Commentary  on  the  duel  or 
combat  between  David  and  Goliath, 
I.  Regum  xvii,  tries  to  prove  that  in  some 
cases  a  duel  is  lawful.  But  Paul  of 
Burgos  proves  that  not  this,  but  rather 
the  opposite  was  the  meaning  of  S. 
Thomas ;  and  all  Princes  and  secular 
Judges  ought  to  pay  particular  atten¬ 
tion  to  his  proof. 

His  first  point  is  that  a  duel,  like  the 
other  trial  by  ordeal,  has  as  its  purpose 
the  judgement  of  something  hidden, 
which  ought  to  be  left  to  the  judgement 
of  God,  as  we  have  said.  And  it  cannot 
be  said  that  this  combat  of  David  is  an 
authority  for  duelling;  for  it  was  re¬ 
vealed  to  him  by  the  Lord  through 
some  inner  instinct  that  he  must  engage 
in  that  combat  and  avenge  upon  the 
Philistine  the  injuries  done  against  God, 
as  is  proved  by  David’s  words :  I  come 
against  thee  in  the  name  of  the  living 
God.  So  he  was  not  properly  speaking 
a  duellist,  but  he  was  an  executor  of 
Divine  justice. 

His  second  point  is  that  Judges  must 
especially  note  that  in  a  duel  power,  or 
at  least  licence,  is  given  to  each  of  the 
parties  to  kill  the  other.  But  since  one 
of  them  is  innocent,  that  power  or 
licence  is  given  for  the  killing  of  an 
innocent  man;  and  this  is  unlawful,  as 
being  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  natural 
law  and  to  the  teaching  of  God.  There¬ 
fore  a  duel  is  altogether  unlawful,  not 
only  on  the  part  of  the  appellant  and 


the  respondent,  but  also  on  the  part  of 
the  Judge  and  his  advisers,  who  are  all 
equally  to  be  considered  homicides  or 
parties  to  manslaughter. 

Thirdly,  he  points  out  that  a  duel  is 
a  single  combat  between  two  men,  the 
purpose  of  which  is  that  the  justice  of 
the  case  should  be  made  clear  by  the 
victory  of  one  party,  as  if  by  Divine 
judgement,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  one  of  the  parties  is  fighting  in  an 
unjust  cause;  and  in  this  way  God  is 
tempted.  Therefore  it  is  unlawful  on 
the  part  both  of  the  appellant  and  the 
respondent.  But  considering  the  fact 
that  the  judges  have  other  means  of 
arriving  at  an  equitable  and  just  ter¬ 
mination  of  the  dispute,  when  they  do 
not  use  such  means,  but  advise  or  even 
permit  a  duel  when  they  could  forbid 
it,  they  are  consenting  to  the  death  of 
an  innocent  person. 

But  since  it  is  unlikely  that  Nicolas 
the  Commentator  was  unaware  or  igno¬ 
rant  of  the  above  reasoning,  it  is  con¬ 
cluded  that,  when  he  says  that  in  some 
cases  a  duel  can  be  fought  without 
mortal  sin,  he  is  speaking  on  the  part 
of  the  Judges  or  advisers,  namely,  in  a 
case  when  such  a  trial  is  undertaken, 
not  on  their  responsibility  or  advice,  but 
purely  on  that  of  the  appellant  and 
respondent  themselves. 

But  since  it  is  not  our  purpose  to 
linger  over  and  debate  such  considera¬ 
tions,  but  to  return  to  the  question  of 
witches,  it  is  clear  that,  if  this  sort  of 
trial  is  forbidden  in  the  case  of  other 
criminal  causes,  such  as  theft  or  rob¬ 
bery,  still  more  must  it  be  forbidden  in 
the  case  of  witches,  who,  it  is  agreed, 
obtain  all  their  power  from  the  devil, 
whether  it  be  for  causing  or  curing  an 
injury,  for  removing  or  for  preventing 
an  effect  of  witchcraft. 

And  it  is  not  wonderful  that  witches 
are  able  to  undergo  this  trial  by  ordeal 
unscathed  with  the  help  of  devils;  for 
we  learn  from  naturalists  that  if  the 
hands  be  anointed  with  the  juice  of  a 
certain  herb  they  are  protected  from 
burning.  Now  the  devil  has  an  exact 
knowledge  of  the  virtues  of  such  herbs : 
therefore,  although  he  can  cause  the 
hand  of  the  accused  to  be  protected 
from  the  red-hot  iron  by  invisibly  inter¬ 
posing  some  other  substance,  yet  he  can 
procure  the  same  effect  by  the  use  of 
natural  objects.  Hence  even  less  than 
other  criminals  ought  witches  to  be 
allowed  this  trial  by  ordeal,  because  of 


235 


Part  III.  Question  18.  MALEFICARUM 


their  intimate  familiarity  with  the  devil ; 
and  from  the  very  fact  of  their  appealing 
to  this  trial  they  are  to  be  held  as  sus¬ 
pected  witches. 

An  incident  illustrative  of  our  argu¬ 
ment  occurred  hardly  three  years  ago 
in  the  Diocese  of  Constance.  For  in  the 
territory  of  the  Counts  of  Fiirstenberg 
and  the  Black  Forest  there  was  a  notori¬ 
ous  witch  who  had  been  the  subject  of 
much  public  complaint.  At  last,  as  the 
result  of  a  general  demand,  she  was 
seized  by  the  Count  and  accused  of 
various  evil  works  of  witchcraft.  When 
she  was  being  tortured  and  questioned, 
wishing  to  escape  from  their  hands,  she 
appealed  to  the  trial  by  red-hot  iron; 
and  the  Count,  being  young  and  inex¬ 
perienced,  allowed  it.  And  she  then 
carried  the  red-hot  iron  not  only  for 
the  stipulated  three  paces,  but  for  six, 
and  offered  to  carry  it  even  farther. 
Then,  although  they  ought  to  have 
taken  this  as  a  manifest  proof  that  she 
was  a  witch  (since  none  of  the  Saints 
dared  to  tempt  the  help  of  God  in  this 
manner),  she  was  released  from  her 
chains  and  lives  to  the  present  time, 
not  without  grave  scandal  to  the  Faith 
in  those  parts. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XVIII 

Of  the  Manner  of  Pronouncing  a  Sentence 
which  is  Final  and  Definitive. 

IN  proceeding  to  treat  of  those  cases 
in  which  the  secular  Judge  by  him¬ 
self  can  arrive  at  a  judgement  and  pro¬ 
nounce  sentence  without  the  co-opera¬ 
tion  of  the  Diocesan  and  Ordinaries, 
we  necessarily  presuppose  that  not  only 
is  it  consistent  with  the  protection  of 
the  faith  and  of  justice  that  we  Inquisi¬ 
tors  should  be  relieved  of  the  duty  of 
passing  sentence  in  these  cases,  but  in 
the  same  sincerity  of  spirit  we  endeav¬ 
our  to  relieve  the  Diocesans  also  from 
that  duty;  not  in  any  desire  to  detract 
from  their  authority  and  jurisdiction, 
for  if  they  should  elect  to  exercise  their 
authority  in  such  matters,  it  would 
follow  that  we  Inquisitors  must  also 
concur  in  it. 

It  must  be  remembered,  also,-  that 
this  crime  of  witches  is  not  purely  eccle¬ 
siastic;  therefore  the  temporal  poten¬ 
tates  and  Lords  are  not  debarred  from 
trying  and  judging  it.  At  the  same  time 


we  shall  show  that  in  some  cases  they 
must  not  arrive  at  a  definitive  judge¬ 
ment  without  the  authorisation  of  the 
Diocesans. 

But  first  we  must  consider  the  sen¬ 
tence  itself:  secondly,  the  nature  of  its 
pronouncement;  and  thirdly,  in  how 
many  ways  it  is  to  be  pronounced. 

With  regard  to  the  first  of  these  ques¬ 
tions,  S.  Augustine  says  that  we  must 
not  pronounce  sentence  against  any 
person  unless  he  has  been  proved  guilty, 
or  has  confessed.  Now  there  are  three 
kinds  of  sentence — interlocutory,  defini¬ 
tive,  and  preceptive.  These  are  ex¬ 
plained  as  follows  by  S.  Raymund. 
An  interlocutory  sentence  is  one  which 
is  given  not  on  the  main  issue  of  the 
case  but  on  some  other  side  issues  which 
emerge  during  the  hearing  of  a  case; 
such  as  a  decision  whether  or  not  a 
witness  is  to  be  disallowed,  or  whether 
some  digression  is  to  be  admitted,  and 
such  matters  as  that.  Or  it  may  perhaps 
be  called  interlocutory  because  it  is  de¬ 
livered  simply  by  word  of  mouth  with¬ 
out  the  formality  of  putting  it  in  writing. 

A  definitive  sentence  is  one  which 
pronounces  a  final  decision  as  to  the 
main  issue  of  the  case. 

A  preceptive  sentence  is  one  which  is 
pronounced  by  a  lower  authority  on  the 
instruction  of  a  higher.  But  we  shall  be 
concerned  with  the  first  two  of  these, 
and  especially  with  the  definitive  sen¬ 
tence. 

Now  it  is  laid  down  by  law  that  a 
definitive  sentence  which  has  been 
arrived  at  without  a  due  observance  of 
the  proper  legal  procedure  in  trying  a 
case  is  null  and  void  in  law;  and  the 
legal  conduct  of  a  case  consists  in  two 
things.  One  concerns  the  basis  of  the 
judgement;  for  there  must  be  a  due 
rovision  for  the  hearing  of  arguments 
oth  for  the  prosecution  and  the  de¬ 
fence,  and  a  sentence  arrived  at  without 
such  a  hearing  cannot  stand.  The  other 
is  not  concerned  with  the  basis  of  the 
judgement,  but  provides  that  the  sen¬ 
tence  must  not  be  conditional ;  for  ex¬ 
ample,  a  claim  for  possession  should  not 
be  decided  conditionally  upon  some 
subsequent  claim  of  property ;  but 
where  there  is  no  question  of  such  an 
objection  the  sentence  shall  stand. 

But  in  the  case  we  are  considering, 
which  is  a  process  on  behalf  of  the  faith 
against  a  charge  of  heresy  (though  the 
charge  is  a  mixed  one),  the  procedure 
is  straightforward  and  summary.  That 


236 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  19. 


is  to  say,  the  Judge  need  not  require  a 
writ,  or  demand  that  the  case  should 
be  contested.  But  he  must  allow  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  the  necessary  proofs,  and  issue 
his  citation,  and  exact  the  protestation 
of  the  oath  concerning  calumny,  etc. 
Therefore  there  has  lately  been  a  new 
law  made  as  to  the  method  of  procedure 
in  such  cases. 

To  proceed  to  our  second  considera¬ 
tion,  namely,  of  the  nature  of  the  pro¬ 
nouncement  of  the  sentence,  it  must  be 
noted  that  it  should  be  pronounced  by 
the  Judge  and  no  one  else,  otherwise  it 
is  not  valid.  Also  the  Judge  must  be 
sitting  in  a  public  and  honourable 
place ;  and  he  must  pronounce  it  in  the 
day-time  and  not  in  the  darkness ;  and 
there  are  other  conditions  to  be  ob¬ 
served  ;  for  example,  the  sentence  must 
not  be  promulgated  upon  a  Holy  Day, 
nor  yet  merely  delivered  in  writing. 

Yet  it  is  to  be  noted  that  since,  as  we 
have  said,  this  case  is  conducted  in  a 
simple  and  summary  manner,  it  may 
lawfully  be  conducted  on  Holy  Days  for 
the  sake  of  the  convenience  of  the  pub¬ 
lic,  and  the  Judge  may  cut  short  any 
digressions.  Therefore  the  Judge  may,  if 
he  pleases,  act  in  such  a  manner,  and 
even  pass  sentence  without  putting  it  in 
writing.  For  we  are  authoritatively  in¬ 
formed  that  there  are  cases  in  which  a 
sentence  is  valid  without  its  being  put 
into  writing,  as,  for  example,  when  such 
is  the  custom  of  any  particular  locality 
or  Court.  Also  there  is  excellent  pre¬ 
cedent  for  a  Bishop,  when  he  is  the 
Judge,  allowing  the  sentence  to  be 
pronounced  by  some  other  person. 

Note  again  that,  although  in  criminal 
actions  the  execution  of  the  sentence  is 
not  to  be  delayed,  this  rule  does  not 
hold  good  in  four  cases,  with  two  of 
which  we  are  here  concerned.  First, 
when  the  prisoner  is  a  pregnant  woman ; 
and  then  the  sentence  shall  be  delayed 
until  she  has  given  birth.  Secondly, 
when  the  prisoner  has  confessed  her 
crime,  but  has  afterwards  denied  it 
again :  that  is  to  say,  when  the  con¬ 
fession  has  not  been  repeated  in  the 
way  which  we  explained  in  the  Four¬ 
teenth  Question. 

Now  before  we  proceed  to  our  third 
consideration,  namely,  the  different 
methods  of  passing  sentence  which  we 
shall  proceed  to  treat  of  up  to  the  end 
of  this  work,  we  must  first  make  some 
remarks  about  the  various  ways  in 
which  a  prisoner  is  rendered  suspect, 


from  which  the  various  methods  of 
passing  sentence  follow  as  a  conse¬ 
quence. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XIX 

Of  the  Various  Degrees  of  Overt  Suspicion 
which  render  the  Accused  liable  to  be 
Sentenced. 

BOTH  the  old  and  the  new  legisla¬ 
ture  provide  an  answer  to  the 
question  as  to  in  how  many  and  what 
ways  a  person  can  be  held  suspect  of 
heresy  or  any  other  crime,  and  whether 
they  can  be  judged  and  sentenced  by 
reason  of  such  suspicions.  For  the 
gloss  on  the  chapter  nos  in  quemquam , 
which  we  quoted  in  the  last  Question, 
says  that  there  are  four  means  of 
convicting  a  prisoner :  either  by  the 
depositions  of  witnesses  in  Court,  or  by 
the  evidence  of  the  facts,  or  by  reason 
of  previous  convictions  against  the 
prisoner,  or  because  of  a  grave  suspicion. 

And  the  Canonists  note  that  sus¬ 
picion  is  of  three  kinds.  The  first,  of 
which  the  Canon  says,  “You  shall 
not  judge  anyone  because  he  is  suspect 
in  your  own  opinion.”  The  second  is 
Probable;  and  this,  but  not  the  first, 
leads  to  a  purgation.  The  third  is 
Grave,  and  leads  to  a  conviction ;  and 
S.  Jerome  understands  this  kind  of 
suspicion  when  he  says  that  a  wife  may 
be  divorced  either  for  fornication  or  for 
a  reasonably  suspected  fornication. 

It  must  further  be  noted  that  the 
second,  or  highly  probable  and  cir¬ 
cumstantial,  suspicion  is  admitted  as  a 
kind  of  half-proof;  that  is  to  say,  it 
helps  to  substantiate  other  proofs. 
Therefore  it  can  also  lead  to  a  judge¬ 
ment,  and  not  only  to  a  purgation. 
And  as  for  the  grave  suspicion,  which 
suffices  for  a  conviction,  note  that  it  is 
of  two  kinds.  One  is  of  the  law  and  by 
the  law,  as  when  the  law  fixes  and 
determines  some  point  against  which 
no  proof  can  be  admitted.  For  example, 
if  a  man  has  given  a  woman  a  promise 
of  matrimony,  and  copulation  has 
ensued,  then  matrimony  is  presumed, 
and  no  proof  to  the  contrary  is  admitted. 
The  second  is  of  the  law  but  not  by  the 
law,  as  where  the  law  presumes  but 
does  not  determine  a  fact.  For  ex¬ 
ample,  if  a  man  has  lived  for  a  long 
time  with  a  woman,  she  is  presumed  to 


Part  III.  Question  19.  MALEFICARUM 


237 


have  had  connexion  with  him ;  but 
against  this  proofs  are  admitted. 

Applying  this  to  our  discussion  of  the 
heresy  of  witches  and  to  the  modern 
laws,  we  say  that  in  law  there  are  three 
degrees  of  suspicion  in  the  matter  of 
heresy :  the  first  slight,  the  second  great, 
and  the  third  very  great. 

The  first  is  in  law  called  a  light  sus¬ 
picion.  Of  this  it  is  said  in  the  chapter 
Accusatus ,  de  Haeret,  lib.  6 :  If  the  accused 
has  incurred  only  a  light  and  small 
suspicion,  and  if  she  should  again  fall 
under  that  suspicion,  although  she  is  to 
be  severely  punished  for  this/  she  ought 
not  to  suffer  the  punishment  of  those 
who  have  relapsed  into  heresy.  And 
this  suspicion  is  called  small  or  light, 
both  because  it  can  be  removed  by  a 
small  and  light  defence,  and  because  it 
arises  from  small  and  light  conjectures. 
Therefore  it  is  called  small,  because  of 
the  small  proofs  of  it ;  and  light,  because 
of  the  light  conjectures. 

As  an  example  of  simple  heresy,  if 
people  are  found  to  be  meeting  together 
secretly  for  the  purpose  of  worship,  or 
differing  in  their  manner  of  life  and  be¬ 
haviour  from  the  usual  habits  of  the 
faithful;  or  if  they  meet  together  in 
sheds  and  barns,  or  at  the  more  Holy 
Seasons  in  the  remoter  fields  or  woods, 
by  day  or  by  night,  or  are  in  any  way 
found  to  separate  themselves  and  not  to 
attend  Mass  at  the  usual  times  or  in  the 
usual  manner,  or  form  secret  friendships 
with  suspected  witches :  such  people 
incur  at  least  a  light  suspicion  of 
heresy,  because  it  is  proved  that  heretics 
often  act  in  this  manner.  And  of  this 
light  suspicion  the  Canon  says:  They 
who  are  by  a  slight  argument  discovered 
to  have  deviated  from  the  teaching  and 
path  of  the  Catholic  religion  are  not  to 
be  classed  as  heretics,  nor  is  a  sentence 
to  be  pronounced  against  them. 

Henry  of  Segusio  agrees  with  this  in  his 
Summa;  de  Praesumptione,  where  he  says : 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  although  a  heretic 
be  convicted  by  a  slight  argument  of 
that  matter  of  which  he  is  suspected,  he 
is  not  on  that  account  to  be  considered 
a  heretic ;  and  he  proves  it  by  the  above 
reasoning. 

The  second  or  grave  suspicion  is  in 
law  called  grave  or  vehement,  and  of 
this  the  above  Canon  [Accusatus)  again 
says :  One  who  is  accused  or  suspected 
of  heresy,  against  whom  a  grave  or 
vehement  suspicion  of  this  crime  has 
arisen,  etc.  And  it  goes  on :  And  these 


are  not  two  kinds  but  the  same  kind 
of  suspicion.  Giovanni  d’ Andrea  also 
says:  Vehement  is  the  same  as  strong, 
as  the  Archdeacon  says  speaking  of  this 
Canon.  Also  Bernardus  Papiensis*  and 
Hugucciof  say  that  vehement  is  the 
same  as  strong  or  great.  S.  Gregory 
also,  in  the  First  Book  of  his  Morals , 
says:  A  vehement  wind  sprang  up. 
Therefore  we  say  that  anyone  has  a 
vehement  case  when  he  has  a  strong 
one.  So  much  for  this. 

Therefore  a  great  suspicion  is  called 
vehement  or  strong ;  and  it  is  so  called 
because  it  is  dispelled  only  by  a  vehe¬ 
ment  and  strong  defence,  and  because 
it  arises  from  great,  vehement,  and 
strong  conjectures,  arguments,  and 
evidence.  As,  to  take  an  example  of 
simple  heresy,  when  people  are  found 
to  shelter  known  heretics,  and  show 
favour  to  them,  or  visit  and  associate 
with  them  and  give  gifts  to  them, 
receive  them  into  their  houses  and 
protect  them,  and  such  like :  such 
people  are  vehemently  suspected  of 
heresy.  And  similarly  in  the  heresy  of 
witches,  they  are  brought  under  sus¬ 
picion  when  they  share  in  the  crimes  of 
witches. 

And  here  are  especially  to  be  noted 
those  men  or  women  who  cherish  some 
inordinate  love  or  excessive  hatred, 
even  if  they  do  not  use  to  work  any 

*  “ Papiensis .”  Bernardus  Papiensis ,  a 
famous  and  prolific  Italian  canonist  of  the 
thirteenth  century ,  who  died  18  September ,  1213. 
He  was  born  at  Pavia,  studied  law  and  theology 
at  Bologna,  was  provost  of  the  Cathedral  of 
Pavia  until  ngi ,  Bishop  of  Faenza  until  ng8, 
and  then  Bishop  of  Pavia  until  his  death.  The 
most  celebrated  of  his  many  works  is  the 
“Breuiarium  extrauagantium ”  [later  called 
“ Compilatio  prima  antiqua”),  a  collection  of 
canonical  texts  comprising  ancient  canons  not 
inserted  in  the  “ Decretum ”  of  Gratian,  as  also 
various  later  documents.  The  work  was  com¬ 
piled  between  1187  and  ngi,  and  was  edited  by 
Friedberg,  “ Quinque  compilationes  antiquae ,” 
Leipzig ,  1882 . 

f  “ Huguccio Hugh  of  Pisa,  a  distinguished 
Italian  canonist,  who  died  in  1210.  He  was  born 
at  Pisa ,  but  the  date  is  unknown.  He  studied  at 
Bologna,  where  later  he  professed  Canon  Law. 
In  ugo  he  became  Bishop  of  Ferrara.  Among 
his  works  are  a  ‘ Tiber  deriuationum ”  which 
treats  of  etymology.  He  also  wrote  a  “Summa” 
on  the  “Decretum”  of  Gratian,  which  has  been 
considered  the  most  extensive  and  one  of  the  most 
valuable  commentaries  of  the  time.  There  are, 
however,  certain  omissions,  but  these  gaps  were 
filled  by  the  industry  of  Joannes  de  Deo. 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  19. 


238 


harm  against  men  or  animals  in  other 
ways.  For,  as  we  have  said,  those  who 
behave  in  this  way  in  any  heresy  are 
strongly  to  be  suspected.  And  this  is 
shown  by  the  Canon  where  it  says  that 
there  is  no  doubt  that  such  persons  act 
in  this  way  out  of  some  heretical 
sympathy. 

The  third  and  greatest  suspicion  is  in 
law  called  grave  or  violent:  for  the 
Canon  and  the  glosses  of  the  Arch¬ 
deacon  and  Giovanni  d’ Andrea  explain 
that  the  word  vehement  does  not  mean, 
the  same  as  the  word  violent.  And  of 
this  suspicion  the  Canon  says  (dist.  34)  • 
This  presumption  or  suspicion  is  called 
violent  because  it  violently  constrains 
and  compels  a  Judge  to  believe  it,  and 
cannot  be  cast  off  by  any  evasion ;  and 
also  because  it  arises  from  violent  and 
convincing  conjectures. 

For  example,  in  simple  heresy,  if 
persons  are  found  to  show  a  reverent 
love  for  heretics,  to  receive  consolation 
or  communion  from  them,  or  per¬ 
petrate  any  other  such  matter  in 
•accordance  with  their  rites  and  cere¬ 
monies:  such  persons  would  fall  under 
and  be  convicted  of  a  violent  suspicion 
of  heresy  and  heretical  beliefs.  (See 
many  chapters  on  this  subject  in  Book 
VI  of  the  Canon.)  For  there  is  no 
doubt  that  such  persons  act  in  this  way 
out  of  a  belief  in  some  heresy. 

It  is  the  same,  as  regards  the  heresy 
of  witches,  with  those  who  perform 
and  persist  in  performing  any  of  the 
actions  which  pertain  to  the  rites  of 
witches.  Now  these  are  of  various 
kinds.  Sometimes  it  is  only  some 
threatening  speech,  such  as  “You  shall 
soon  feel  what  will  happen  to  you,”  or 
something  similar.  Sometimes  it  is  a 
touch,  just  laying  their  hands  curiously 
on  a  man  or  a  beast.  Sometimes  it  is  only 
a  matter  of  being  seen,  when  they  show 
themselves  by  day  or  by  night  to  others 
who  are  sleeping  in  their  beds ;  and  this 
they  do  when  they  wish  to  bewitch  men 
or  beasts.  But  for  raising  hailstorms 
they  observe  various  other  methods 
and  ceremonies,  and  perform  various 
ritual  actions  round  about  a  river,  as 
we  have  shown  before  where  we  dis¬ 
cussed  the  manner  and  methods  of 
working  witchcraft.  When  such  are 
found  and  are  publicly  notorious  they 
are  convicted  of  a  violent  suspicion  of 
the  heresy  of  witchcraft ;  especially 
when  some  effect  of  witchcraft  has 
followed  upon  their  actions,  either 


immediately  or  after  some  interval. 
For  then  there  is  direct  evidence  of  the 
fact,  or  indirect  evidence  when  any 
instruments  of  witchcraft  are  found 
hidden  in  some  place.  And  although 
when  some  interval  of  time  has  elapsed 
the  evidence  of  the  fact  is  not  so  strong, 
such  a  person  still  remains  under  strong 
suspicion  of  witchcraft,  and  therefore 
much  more  of  simple  heresy. 

And  if  it  be  asked  whether  the  devil 
cannot  inflict  injury  upon  men  and 
beasts  without  the  means  of  a  woman 
being  seen  in  a  vision  or  by  her  touch, 
we  answer  that  he  can,  when  God 
permits  it.  But  the  permission  of  God 
is  more  readily  granted  in  the  case  of  a 
creature  that  was  dedicated  to  God,  but 
by  denying  the  faith  has  consented  to 
other  horrible  crimes;  and  therefore 
the  devil  more  often  uses  such  means  to 
harm  creatures.  Further,  we  may  say 
that,  although  the  devil  can  work 
without  a  witch,  he  yet  very  much 
prefers  to  work  with  one,  for  the  many 
reasons  which  we  showed  earlier  in  this 
work. 

To  sum  up  our  conclusions  on  this 
matter,  it  is  to  be  said  that,  following 
the  above  distinctions,  those  who  are 
suspected  of  the  heresy  of  witchcraft 
are  separated  into  three  categories, 
since  some  are  lightly,  some  strongly, 
and  some  gravely  suspected.  And  they 
are  lightly  suspected  who  act  in  such 
a  way  as  to  give  rise  to  a  small  or  light 
suspicion  against  them  of  this  heresy. 
And  although,  as  has  been  said,  a 
person  who  is  found  to  be  suspected  in 
this  way  is  not  to  be  branded  as  a 
heretic,  yet  he  must  undergo  a  canonical 
purgation,  or  he  must  be  caused  to 
pronounce  a  solemn  abjuration  as  in 
the  case  of  one  convicted  of  a  slight 
heresy. 

For  the  Canon  (cap.  excommunicamus) 
says:  Those  who  have  been  found  to 
rest  under  a  probable  suspicion  (that  is, 
says  Henry  of  Segusio,  a  light  suspicion), 
unless,  having  respect  to  the  nature  of 
the  suspicion  and  the  quality  of  their 
persons,  they  should  prove  their  inno¬ 
cence  by  a  fitting  purgation,  they  are  to 
be  stricken  with  the  sword  of  anathema 
as  a  worthy  satisfaction  in  the  sight  of 
all  men.  And  if  they  continue  obstinate 
in  their  excommunication  for  the  period 
of  a  year,  they  are  to  be  utterly  con¬ 
demned  as  heretics. 

And  note  that,  in  the  purgation 
imposed  upon  them,  whether  or  not 


Part  III.  Question  19.  MALEFICARUM 


239 


they  consent  to  it,  and  whether  or  not 
they  fail  in  it,  they  are  throughout  to  be 
judged  as  reputed  heretics  on  whom  a 
canonical  purgation  is  to  be  imposed. 

And  that  a  person  under  this  light 
suspicion  can  and  should  be  caused  to 
pronounce  a  solemn  abjuration  is  shown 
m  the  chapter  Accusatus,  where  it  says : 
A  person  accused  or  suspected  of  heresy, 
against  whom  there  is  a  strong  suspicion 
of  this  crime,  if  he  abjures  the  heresy 
before  the  Judge  and  afterwards  com¬ 
mits  it,  then,  by  a  sort  of  legal  fiction, 
he  shall  be  judged  to  have  relapsed  into 
heresy,  although  the  heresy  was  not 
proved  against  him  before  his  abjura¬ 
tion.  But  if  the  suspicion  was  in  the 
first  place  a  small  or  light  one,  although 
such  a  relapse  renders  the  accused  liable 
to  severe  punishment,  yet  he  is  not  to 
suffer  the  punishment  of  those  who 
relapse  into  heresy. 

But  those  who  are  strongly  suspected, 
that  is,  those  who  have  acted  in  such  a 
way  as  to  engender  a  great  and  strong 
suspicion;  even  these  are  not  neces¬ 
sarily  heretics  or  to  be  condemned  as 
such.  For  it  is  expressly  stated  in  the 
Canon  that  no  one  is  to  be  condemned 
of  so  great  a  crime  by  reason  of  a  strong 
suspicion.  And  it  says : 

Therefore  we  order  that,  when  the 
accused  is  only  under  suspicion,  even 
if  it  be  a  strong  one,  we  do  not  wish  him 
to  be  condemned  of  so  grave  a  crime ; 
but  such  a  one  so  strongly  suspected 
must  be  commanded  to  abjure  all  heresy 
in  general,  and  in  particular  that  of 
which  he  is  strongly  suspected. 

But  if  he  afterwards  relapses  either 
into  his  former  heresy  or  into  any  other, 
or  if  he  associates  with  those  whom  he 
knows  to  be  witches  or  heretics,  or 
visits  them,  receives,  consults  with, 
forgives,  or  favours  them,  he  shall  not 
escape  the  punishment  of  backsliders, 
according  to  the  chapter  Accusatus . 
For  it  says  there:  He  who  has  been 
involved  in  one  kind  or  sect  of  heresy,  or 
has  erred  in  one  article  of  the  faith  or 
sacrament  of  the  Church,  and  has 
afterwards  specifically  and  generally 
abjured  his  heresy :  if  thereafter  he 
follows  another  kind  or  sect  of  heresy, 
or  errs  in  another  article  or  sacrament 
of  the  Church,  it  is  our  will  that  he  be 
judged  a  backslider.  He,  therefore,  who 
is  known  to  have  lapsed  into  heresy 
before  his  abjuration,  if  after  his 
abjuration  he  receives  heretics,  visits 
them,  gives  or  sends  them  presents  or 


gifts,  or  shows  favour  to  them,  etc.,  he 
is  worthily  and  truly  to  be  judged  a 
backslider ;  for  by  this  proof  there 
is  no  doubt  that  he  was  in  the  first 
place  guiltv.  Such  is  the  tenor  of  the 
Canon. 

From  these  words  it  is  clear  that  there 
are  three  cases  in  which  a  person  under 
strong  suspicion  of  heresy  shall,  after 
his  abjuration,  be  punished  as  a  back¬ 
slider.  The  first  is  when  he  falls  back 
into  the  same  heresy  of  which  he  was 
strongly  suspected.  The  second  is  when 
he  has  abjured  all  heresy  in  general,  and 
yet  lapses  into  another  heresy,  even  if 
he  has  never  before  been  suspected  or 
accused  of  that  heresy.  The  third  is 
when  he  receives  and  shows  favour  to 
heretics.  And  this  last  comprises  and 
embraces  many  cases. 

But  it  is  asked  what  should  be  done 
when  a  person  who  has  fallen  under  so 
strong  a  suspicion  steadily  refuses  to 
comply  with  his  Judge’s  order  to 
abjure  his  heresy:  is  he  to  be  at  once 
handed  over  to  the  secular  Court  to  be 
punished?  We  answer  that  by  no  means 
must  this  be  done;  for  the  Canon  ( ad 
abolendam)  expressly  speaks,  not  of 
suspects,  but  of  those  who  are  mani¬ 
festly  taken  in  heresy.  And  more 
rigorous  action  is  to  be  employed  against 
those  who  are  manifestly  taken  than 
against  those  who  are  only  suspected. 

And  if  it  is  asked,  How  then  is  such  a 
one  to  be  proceeded  against?  We  answer 
that  the  Judge  must  proceed  against 
him  in  accordance  with  the  chapter 
excommunicamus ,  and  he  must  be  ex¬ 
communicated.  And  if  he  continues 
obstinate  after  a  year’s  excommunica¬ 
tion,  he  is  to  be  condemned  as  a  heretic. 

There  are  others  again  who  are 
violently  or  gravely  suspected,  whose 
actions  give  rise  to  a  violent  suspicion 
against  them;  and  such  a  one  is  to  be 
considered  as  a  heretic,  and  throughout 
he  is  to  be  treated  as  if  he  were  taken  in 
heresy,  in  accordance  with  the  Canon 
Law.  For  these  either  confess  their 
crime  or  not ;  and  if  they  do,  and  wish 
to  return  to  the  faith  and  abjure  their 
heresy,  they  are  to  be  received  back 
into  penitence.  But  if  they  refuse  to 
abjure,  they  are  to  be  handed  over  to 
the  secular  Court  for  punishment. 

But  if  he  does  not  confess  his  crime 
after  he  has  been  convicted,  and  does 
not  consent  to  abjure  his  heresy,  he  is 
to  be  condemned  as  an  impenitent 
heretic.  For  a  violent  suspicion  is 


240 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  20. 


sufficient  to  warrant  a  conviction,  and 
admits  no  proof  to  the  contrary. 

Now  this  discussion  deals  with  simple 
heresy,  where  there  is  no  direct  or 
indirect  evidence  of  the  fact,  as  will 
be  shown  in  the  sixth  method  of  passing 
sentence,  where  a  man  is  to  be  con¬ 
demned  as  a  heretic  even  though  he 
may  not  actually  be  one:  then  how 
much  more  is  it  applicable  to  the  heresy 
of  witches,  where  there  is  always  in 
addition  either  the  direct  evidence  of 
bewitched  children,  men,  or  animals, 
or  the  indirect  evidence  of  instruments 
of  witchcraft  which  have  been  found. 

And  although  in  the  case  of  simple 
heresy  those  who  are  penitent  and 
abjure  are,  as  has  been  said,  admitted 
to  penitence  and  imprisonment  for 
life;  yet  in  this  heresy,  although  the 
ecclesiastic  Judge  may  receive  the 
prisoner  into  penitence,  yet  the  civil 
Judge  can,  because  of  her  temporal 
injuries,  that  is  to  say,  the  harm  she  has 
done  to  men,  cattle,  and  goods,  punish 
her  with  death ;  nor  can  the  ecclesiastic 
Judge  prevent  this,  for  even  if  he  does 
not  hand  her  over  to  be  punished,  yet 
he  is  compelled  to  deliver  her  up  at  the 
request  of  the  civil  Judge. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XX 

Of  the  First  Method  of  Pronouncing 
Sentence. 

SINCE,  therefore,  the  accused  is 
either  found  innocent  and  is  to  be 
altogether  absolved,  or  is  found  only  to 
be  generally  defamed  as  a  heretic,  or  is 
found  a  proper  subject  for  the  questions 
and  the  torture  on  account  of  her 
reputation,  or  is  found  to  be  lightly 
suspected  of  heresy,  or  is  found  to  be 
strongly  or  gravely  suspected  of  heresy* 
or  is  found  to  be  at  the  same  time 
commonly  defamed  and  suspected  of 
heresy,  or  is  found  to  have  confessed 
her  heresy  and  to  be  penitent  and  not 
to  have  relapsed  truly,  or  is  found  to 
have  confessed  and  to  be  penitent  but 
probably  to  have  relapsed,  or  is  found 
to  have  confessed  her  heresy  and  to 
be  impenitent  but  not  really  to  have 
relapsed,  or  is  found  to  have  confessed 
and  to  be  impenitent  and  certainly  to 
have  relapsed,  or  is  found  not  to  have 
confessed  but  by  legitimate  witnesses 
and  otherwise  legally  to  have  been  con¬ 


victed  of  heresy,  or  is  found  to  have 
been  convicted  of  heresy  but  to  have 
escaped  or  defiantly  absented  herself, 
or  is  found  not  to  have  done  injury  by 
witchcraft  but  to  have  removed  be¬ 
witchments  unfittingly  and  by  unlaw¬ 
ful  means,  or  is  fdund  to  be  an  archer- 
wizard  or  enchanter  of  weapons  with 
the  purpose  of  causing  death,  or  is 
found  to  be  a  witch-midwife  offering 
infants  to  the  devil  in  the  manner  of  an 
enemy,  or  is  found  to  make  frivolous 
and  fraudulent  appeals  with  a  view  to 
saving  her  life : 

Therefore,  if  she  is  found  to  be  en¬ 
tirely  innocent,  the  final  sentence  shall 
be  pronounced  in  the  following  manner : 

Here  it  is  first  to  be  noted  that  the 
accused  is  found  to  be  entirely  innocent 
when,  after  the  facts  of  the  process 
have  been  diligently  discussed  in  con¬ 
sultation  with  skilled  lawyers,  she  can¬ 
not  be  convicted  either  by  her  own 
confession,  or  by  the  evidence  of  the 
fact,  or  by  the  production  of  legitimate 
witnesses  (since  they  have  disagreed 
upon  the  main  issue) ;  and  when  the 
accused  has  never  before  been  suspected 
of  or  publicly  defamed  as  regards  that 
crime  (but  the  case  is  different  if  she 
has  been  defamed  as  regards  some  other 
crime)  ;  and  when  there  is  no  evidence 
of  the  fact  against  her.  In  such  a  case 
the  following  procedure  is  observed ; 
for  she  is  to  be  absolved  by  the  Bishop 
or  Judge  by  a  sentence  to  the  following 
effect  : 

We  N.,  by  the  mercy  of  God  Bishop 
of  such  a  town  (or  Judge,  etc.),  con¬ 
sidering  that  you  N.  of  such  a  place  and 
such  a  Diocese  have  been  accused 
before  us  of  the  crime  of  heresy  and 
namely  of  witchcraft ;  and  considering 
that  this  accusation  was  such  as  we 
could  not  pass  over  with  connivent 
eyes,  have  condescended  to  inquire 
whether  the  aforesaid  accusation  can 
be  substantiated  as  true,  by  calling 
witnesses,  by  examining  you,  and  by 
using  other  means  which  are  fitting 
according  to  the  canonical  sanctions. 
Wherefore  having  diligently  seen  and 
examined  all  that  has  been  done  and 
said  in  this  case,  and  having  had  the 
counsel  of  learned  lawyers  and  Theo¬ 
logians,  and  having  repeatedly  ex¬ 
amined  and  inquired  into  all ;  sitting 
as  Judges  on  this  tribunal  and  having 
only  God  before  our  eyes  and  the  truth 
of  the  case,  and  the  Holy  Gospels  being 
placed  before  us  that  our  judgement 


241 


Part  III.  Question  21.  MALEFICARUM 


may  proceed  from  the  countenance  of 
God  and  our  eyes  behold  equity,  we 
proceed  to  our  definitive  sentence  in  this 
way,  invoking  the  name  of  Christ. 
Since  by  that  which  we  have  seen  and 
heard,  and  has  been  produced,  offered, 
done,  and  executed  before  us  in  this 
present  case,  we  have  not  found  that 
anything  has  legally  been  proved 
against  you  of  those  things  of  which  you 
were  accused  before  us,  we  pronounce, 
declare,  and  give  it  as  our  final  sentence 
that  no  act  has  legally  been  proved  to 
us  against  you  by  which  you  can  or 
ought  to  be  judged  a  heretic  or  witch 
or  be  in  any  way  suspected  of  the  sin 
of  heresy.  Wherefore  by  this  present 
declaration,  inquiry,  and  judgement, 
we  freely  discharge  you.  This  sentence 
was  given,  etc. 

Let  care  be  taken  not  to  put  anywhere 
in  the  sentence  that  the  accused  is 
innocent  or  immune,  but  that  it  was 
not  legally  proved  against  him ;  for  if 
after  a  little  time  he  should  again  be 
brought  to  trial,  and  it  should  be 
legally  proved,  he  can,  notwithstanding 
the  previous  sentence  of  absolution, 
then  be  condemned. 

Note  also  that  the  same  method  of 
absolution  may  be  used  in  the  case  of 
one  who  is  accused  of  receiving,  pro¬ 
tecting,  or  otherwise  comforting  and 
favouring  heretics,  when  nothing  is 
legally  proved  against  him. 

A  secular  Judge  commissioned  by 
the  Bishop  shall  use  his  own  manner  of 
pronouncement. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XXI 

Of  the  Second  Method  of  Pronouncing 
Sentence ,  when  the  Accused  is  no  more 
than  Defamed . 

THE  second  method  of  delivering 
judgement  is  to  be  employed  when 
he  or  she  who  is  accused,  after  a  diligent 
discussion  of  the  merits  of  the  case  in 
consultation  with  learned  lawyers,  is 
found  to  be  no  more  than  defamed  as 
a  heretic  in  some  village,  town,  or 
province.  And  this  is  when  the  accused 
does  not  stand  convicted  either  by  her 
own  confession,  or  by  the  evidence  of 
the  facts,  or  by  the  legitimate  produc¬ 
tion  of  witnesses;  nor  has  there  been 
anything  proved  against  her  except 
that  she  is  the  subject  of  common 


aspersion:  so  that  no  particular  act  of 
witchcraft  can  be  proved  by  which  she 
can  be  brought  under  strong  or  grave 
suspicion,  as  that  she  has  uttered 
threatening  words,  for  example,  “You 
will  soon  feel  what  will  happen  to  you,” 
or  something  to  that  effect,  and  after¬ 
wards  some  injury  has  befallen  the 
person  or  the  cattle  of  the  man  she 
threatened. 

The  following  procedure,  therefore, 
is  to  be  employed  in  the  case  of  such  a 
one  against  whom  nothing  has  been 
proved  except  public  obloquy.  In  this 
case  judgement  cannot  be  delivered  for 
the  accused,  nor  can  she  be  absolved  as 
in  the  first  method;  but  a  canonical 
purgation  must  be  imposed  upon  her. 
Therefore  let  the* Bishop  or  his  deputy, 
or  the  Judge,  first  take  note  that,  in  a 
case  of  heresy,  it  is  not  necessary  that  a 
person  should  be  defamed  only  by  good 
and  respected  people;  for  the  calum¬ 
niation  uttered  by  common  and  simple 
folk  carries  equal  weight. 

And  the  reason  for  this  is,  that  the 
same  persons  who  are  admitted  as 
accusers  in  a  case  of  heresy  are  also 
admitted  as  detractors.  Now  any 
heretic  can  be  accused  by  anybody, 
except  his  mortal  enemies;  therefore 
he  can  also  be  defamed  by  anybody. 

Therefore  let  the  Bishop  or  Judge 
pronounce  his  sentence  of  canonical 
purgation  in  this  or  some  similar 
manner : 

We  N.,  by  the  mercy  of  God  Bishop 
of  such  a  city,  or  Judge  of  such  a  county, 
having  diligently  examined  the  merits 
of  the  process  conducted  by  us  against 
you  N.  of  such  a  Diocese  accused  before 
us  of  the  crime  of  heresy,  etc.  We 
have  not  found  that  you  have  confessed 
to  or  have  been  convicted  of  the  afore¬ 
said  sin  or  that  you  are  even  lightly 
suspected  of  it,  except  that  we  find 
that  truly  and  legitimately  you  are 
publicly  defamed  by  both  good  and 
bad  in  such  a  village,  town,  or  Diocese ; 
and  that  you  may  be  in  good  odour 
among  the  company  of  the  faithful  we 
impose  upon  you  as  by  law  a  canonical 
purgation,  assigning  to  you  such  a  day 
of  such  a  month  at  such  hour  of  the 
day,  upon  which  you  shall  appear  in 
person  before  us  with  so  many  persons 
of  equal  station  with  you  to  purge  you 
of  your  defamation.  Which  sponsors 
must  be  men  of  the  Catholic  faith  and 
of  good  life  who  have  known  your  habits 
and  manner  of  living  not  only  recently 


242 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  22. 


but  in  time  past.  And  we  signify  that, 
if  you  should  fail  in  this  purgation,  we 
shall  hold  you  convicted,  according  to 
the  canonical  sanctions. 

Here  it  is  to  be  considered  that,  when 
a  person  is  duly  found  to  be  publicly 
defamed  of  some  heresy,  and  nothing 
is  proved  against  him  except  that 
defamation,  a canonicalpurgation shall 
be  imposed  upon  him.  That  is,  he  must 
produce  some  seven,  ten,  twenty,  or 
thirty  men,  according  to  the  extent  to 
which  he  has  been  defamed  and  the 
size  and  importance  of  the  place  con¬ 
cerned,  and  these  must  be  men  of  his 
own  station  and  condition.  For  ex¬ 
ample,  if  he  who  is  defamed  is  a  religi¬ 
ous,  they  must  be  religious ;  if  he  is  a 
secular,  they  must  be  seculars ;  if  he 
be  a  soldier,  they  must  be  soldiers  who 
purge  him  from  the  crime  for  which  he 
is  defamed.  And  these  sponsors  must 
be  men  professing  the  Catholic  faith 
and  of  good  life,  who  have  known  his 
habits  and  life  both  recently  and  for  a 
long  time. 

But  if  he  refuses  this  purgation,  he 
must  be  excommunicated;  and  if  he 
remains  obstinate  in  that  excommuni¬ 
cation  for  a  year,  he  is  then  to  be  con¬ 
demned  as  a  heretic. 

And  if  he  accepts  the  purgation  and 
fails  in  it;  that  is,  if  he  cannot  find 
sponsors  of  the  number  and  quality 
desired ;  he  shall  be  considered  as  con¬ 
victed,  and  is  to  be  condemned  as  a 
heretic. 

And  it  must  here  be  remarked  that, 
when  it  is  said  that  he  must  purge  himself 
by  means  of  so  many  men  of  his  own 
station  in  life,  this  is  meant  generically 
and  not  specifically.  Thus,  if  a  Bishop 
is  to  be  purged,  it  is  not  necessary  that 
all  his  sponsors  should  be  Bishops;  but 
Abbots  and  other  religious  who  are 
priests  are  admitted;  and  similarly  in 
other  cases. 

And  the  defamed  person  shall  purge 
himself  in  the  following  manner.  At  the 
time  assigned  to  him  for  his  canonical 
purgation,  he  shall  appear  in  person 
with  his  sponsors  before  the  Bishop  who 
is  his  Judge,  in  the  place  where  he  is 
known  to  be  defamed ;  and,  placing  his 
hand  upon  the  Book  of  the  Gospels  set 
before  hirp,  he  shall  say  as  follows : 

I  swear  upon  these  four  Holy  Gospels 
of  God  that  I  never  held,  believed  or 
taught,  neither  do  I  hold  or  believe  such 
heresy  (naming  it)  for  which  I  am 
defamed. 


That  is  to  say,  he  shall  deny  on  oath 
whatever  it  is  for  which  he  is  defamed. 

After  this,  all  his  sponsors  shall  place 
their  hands  on  the  Gospels ;  and  each  of 
them  severally  shall  say:  And  I  swear 
upon  this  Holy  Gospel  of  God  that  I 
believe  him  to  have  sworn  the  truth. 
And  then  he  is  canonically  purged. 

It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  a  person 
defamed  of  heresy  is  to  be  purged  in  the 
place  where  he  is  known  to  be  defamed. 
And  if  he  has  been  defamed  in  many 
places,  he  must  be  required  to  profess 
the  Catholic  faith  and  deny  the  heresy 
in  all  the  places  in  which  he  is  known  as 
defamed. 

And  let  not  such  a  person  hold  in  light 
esteem  this  canonical  purgation.  For  it 
is  provided  by  the  Canon  Law  that,  if 
he  afterwards  falls  into  the  heresy  of 
which  he  has  been  purged,  he  is  to  be 
handed  over  as  a  backslider  to  the 
secular  Court.  But  the  case  is  somewhat 
different  if  he  falls  into  some  other 
heresy,  of  which  he  has  not  before  been 
purged. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XXII 

Of  the  Third  kind  of  Sentence ,  to  he  Pro¬ 
nounced  on  one  who  is  Defamed ,  and  who 
is  to  be  put  to  the  Question. 

THE  third  method  of  bringing  a 
process  on  behalf  of  the  faith  to 
a  conclusive  termination  is  when  the 
person  accused  of  heresy,  after  a  care¬ 
ful  consideration  of  the  merits  of  the 

f>rocess  in  consultation  with  learned 
awyers,  is  found  to  be  inconsistent  in 
his  statements,  or  it  is  found  that  there 
are  sufficient  grounds  to  warrant  his 
exposure  to  the  question  and  torture: 
so  that  if,  after  he  has  been  thus 
questioned,  he  confesses  nothing,  he 
may  be  considered  innocent.  And  this 
is  when  the  prisoner  has  not  been  taken 
in  heresy,  nor  has  he  been  convicted  by 
his  own  confession,  or  by  the  evidence 
of  the  facts,  or  by  the  legitimate  pro¬ 
duction  of  witnesses,  and  there  are  no 
indications  that  he  is  under  such  a 
suspicion  as  to  warrant  his  being  made 
to  abjure  the  heresy;  but  nevertheless 
he  is  inconsistent  in  his  answers  when 
interrogated.  Or  there  may  be  other 
sufficient  reasons  for  exposing  him  to 
torture.  And  in  such  a  case  the  follow¬ 
ing  procedure  is  to  be  observed. 

And  because  such  a  judgement  in- 


243 


Part  III.  Question  22  MALEFICARUM 


eludes  an  interlocutory  sentence  which 
must  be  against  and  not  for  the  prisoner, 
the  Inquisitor  must  not  divide  it  into 
two  sentences,  but  include  it  all  in  one. 
And  in  the  first  place,  if  the  accused 
remains  firm  in  his  denials  and  can  in 
no  way  be  induced  by  honest  men  to 
confess  the  truth,  the  following  manner 
of  sentence,  which  is  in  some  respects 
definitive,  shall  be  used. 

We  N.,  by  the  mercy  of  God  Bishop 
of  such  a  town,  or  Judge  in  the  territory 
subject  to  the  rule  of  such  a  Prince, 
having  regard  to  the  merits  of  the  pro¬ 
cess  conducted  by  us  against  you  N., 
of  such  a  place  in  such  a  Diocese,  and 
after  careful  examination,  find  that  you 
are  not  consistent  in  your  answers,  and 
that  there  are  sufficient  indications  be¬ 
sides  that  you  ought  to  be  exposed  to 
the  question  and  torture.  Therefore, 
that  the  truth  may  be  known  from  your 
own  mouth  and  that  from  henceforth 

Jou  may  not  offend  the  ears  of  your 
udges  with  your  equivocations,  we 
declare,  pronounce,  and  give  sentence 
that  on  this  present  day  at  such  an 
hour  you  are  to  be  subjected  to  an 
interrogatory  under  torture.  This  sen¬ 
tence  was  given,  etc. 

If  the  person  to  be  questioned  is  both 
found  to  be  equivocal  and  at  the  same 
time  there  are  other  indications  suffi¬ 
cient  to  warrant  his  being  tortured,  let 
both  these  facts  be  included  in  the 
sentence,  as  they  are  above.  But  if  only 
one  or  the  other  of  these  hold  good,  let 
that  one  only  be  put  in  the  sentence. 
But  let  the  sentence  be  soon  put  into 
execution,  or  let  them  make  as  if  to 
execute  it.  Nevertheless  let  not  the 
Judge  be  too  willing  to  subject  a  person 
to  torture,  for  this  should  only  be 
resorted  to  in  default  of  other  proofs. 
Therefore  let  him  seek  for  other  proofs ; 
and  if  he  cannot  find  them,  and  thinks 
it  probable  that  the  accused  is  guilty 
but  denies  the  truth  out  of  fear,  let  him 
use  other  approved  methods,  always 
with  due  precautions,  and  by  using  the 
persuasions  of  the  friends  of  the  accused 
do  his  utmost  to  extract  the  truth  from 
his  own  lips.  And  let  him  not  hasten 
the  business ;  for  very  often  meditation, 
and  the  ordeal  of  imprisonment,  and 
the  repeated  persuasion  of  honest  men 
will  induce  the  accused  to  discover  the 
truth. 

But  if,  after  keeping  the  accused  in 
suspense,  and  after  due  and  decent 
postponements  of  the  time,  and  many 


exhortations  of  the  accused,  the  Bishop 
and  the  Judge  are  well  persuaded  that, 
all  circumstances  considered,  the  ac¬ 
cused  is  denying  the  truth,  let  them 
torture  him  slightly,  without  shedding 
blood,  bearing  in  mind  that  torture  is 
often  fallacious  and  ineffective.  For 
some  are  so  soft-hearted  and  feeble¬ 
minded  that  at  the  least  torture  they 
will  confess  anything,  whether  it  be  true 
or  not.  Others  are  so  stubborn  that, 
however  much  they  are  tortured,  the 
truth  is  not  to  be  had  from  them.  There 
are  others  who,  having  been  tortured 
before,  are  the  better  able  to  endure  it 
a  second  time,  since  their  arms  have 
been  accommodated,  to  the  stretchings 
and  twistings  involved ;  whereas  the 
effect  on  others  is  to  make  them  weaker, 
so  that  they  can  the  less  easily  endure 
torture.  Others  are  bewitched,  and 
make  use  of  the  fact  in  their  torture,  so 
that  they  will  die  before  they  will  con¬ 
fess  anything;  for  they  become,  as  it 
were,  insensible  to  pain.  Therefore 
there  is  need  for  much  prudence  in  the 
matter  of  torture,  and  the  greatest 
attention  is  to  be  given  to  the  condition 
of  the  person  who  is  to  be  tortured. 

When,  then,  the  sentence  has  been 
pronounced,  the  officers  shall  without 
delay  prepare  to  torture  tfie  accused. 
And  while  they  are  making  their  pre¬ 
parations,  the  Bishop  or  Judge  shall 
use  his  own  persuasions  and  those  of 
other  honest  men  zealous  for  the  faith 
to  induce  the  accused  to  confess  the 
truth  freely,  if  necessary  promising  to 
spare  his  life,  as  we  have  shown  above. 

But  if  the  accused  cannot  thus  be 
terrified  into  telling  the  truth,  a  second 
or  third  day  may  be  appointed  for  the 
continuation  of  the  torture ;  but  it  must 
not  be  repeated  then  and  there.  For 
such  a  repetition  is  not  permissible 
unless  some  further  indications  against 
the  accused  should  transpire.  But  there 
is  nothing  to  prevent  a  continuation  of 
the  torture  on  another  day. 

Let  it  then  be  said :  We  N.  Bishop  and 
N.  Judge  (if  he  is  present)  aforesaid, 
assign  to  you  N.  such  a  day  for  the  con¬ 
tinuation  of  the  torture,  that  the  truth 
may  be  known  from  your  own  mouth. 
And  let  all  be  set  down  in  the  process. 
And  during  the  interval  appointed  to 
him,  let  them  use  their  own  persuasions 
and  those  of  other  honest  men  to  induce 
him  to  confess  the  truth. 

But  if  he  has  refused  to  confess,  the 
torture  can  be  continued  on  the  day 


244 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  23. 


assigned,  more  or  less  severely  according 
to  the  gravity  of  the  offences  in  question. 
And  the  Judges  will  be  able  to  observe 
many  lawful  precautions,  both  in  word 
and  deed,  by  which  they  may  come  at 
the  truth:  but  these  are  more  easily 
learned  by  use  and  experience  and  the 
variety  of  different  cases  than  by  the 
art  or  teaching  of  anyone. 

But  if,  after  having  been  fittingly 
uestioned  and  tortured,  he  will  not 
iscover  the  truth,  let  him  not  be 
further  molested,  but  be  freely  allowed 
to  depart.  If,  however,  he  confesses, 
and  abides  by  his  confession,  and  un¬ 
covers  the  truth,  acknowledging  his 
guilt  and  asking  the  pardon  of  the 
Church;  then  according  to  the  Canon 
ad  abolendam  he  is  to  be  treated  as  one 
taken  in  heresy  on  his  own  confession, 
but  penitent,  and  he  must  abjure  the 
heresy,  and  sentence  must  be  pro¬ 
nounced  against  him  as  in  the  case  of 
those  who  are  convicted  by  their  own 
confession  as  being  taken  in  heresy. 
This  will  be  explained  in  the  eighth 
method  of  sentencing  such,  to  which  the 
reader  may  refer. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  confesses  the 
truth,  but  is  not  penitent  but  obstinately 

fiersists  in  his  heresy,  but  is  not  a  i;e- 
apsed  heretic,  then  according  to  the 
Canon,  after  a  decent  interval  and  due 
warning,  he  is  to  be  condemned  as  a 
heretic  and  handed  over  to  the  secular 
Court  to  suffer  the  extreme  penalty,  as 
we  show  later  in  the  tenth  method.  But 
if  he  is  a  relapsed  heretic,  he  is  to  be 
condemned  in  the  way  which  is  again 
explained  in  the  tenth  method,  to  which 
the  reader  may  refer. 

.  But  here  it  must  be  particularly 
noted  that  in  some  instances  he  who 
is  to  be  questioned  confesses  nothing 
against  himself  before  the  torture,  nor 
is  anything  proved  on  the  strength  of 
which  he  can  be  required  to  abjure  the 
heresy  or  be  condemned  as  a  heretic; 
and  in  such  cases  the  above  procedure 
should  be  adopted,  as  we  have  said, 
immediately.  But  in  other  cases  the 
accused  is  taken  in  heresy,  or  there  are 
other  proved  indications  by  reason  of 
which  he  ought  to  be  required  to  abjure 
the  heresy,  or  he  is  to  be  considered 
either  lightly  or  strongly  suspected ;  and 
he  is  not  to  be  tortured  in  respect  of  such 
matters;  but  if,  apart  from  these,  he 
denies  some  points  which  are  not  proved, 
but  of  which  there  is  sufficient  indica¬ 
tion  to  warrant  his  being  tortured ;  and 


if,  having  been  questioned  as  to  these 
under  torture,  he  confesses  to  none  of 
them,  he  is  not  on  that  account  to  be 
absolved  in  accordance  with  the  first 
method;  but  he  must  be  proceeded 
against  according  to  that  which  has 
been  proved  against  him,  and  he  or  she 
must  abjure  the  heresy  as  being  one 
under  suspicion  of  or  taken  in  heresy,  as 
the  merits  of  the  process  may  exact  or 
require.  And  if,  after  torture,  he  con¬ 
fesses  all  or  part  of  that  for  which  he  was 
tortured,  then  he  must  abjure  both  this 
and  the  former  heresy  which  was 
roved  against  him,  and  sentence  must 
e  pronounced  against  him  in  respect 
of  both  of  these. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XXIII 

The  Fourth  Method  of  Sentencing ,  in  the 
Case  of  one  Accused  upon  a  Light 
Suspicion. 

THE  fourth  method  of  concluding 
the  process  on  behalf  of  the  faith 
is  used  when,  after  the  merits  of  the 
process  have  been  diligently  examined 
in  consultation  with  expert  lawyers, 
the  accused  is  found  to  rest  under  only 
a  light  suspicion  of  heresy.  And  this  is 
when  the  accused  is  not  taken  in  heresy, 
nor  is  convicted  by  her  own  confession 
or  by  the  evidence  of  the  facts  or  by  the 
legitimate  production  of  witnesses,  and 
there  are  no  other  strong  or  vehement 
indications  of  heresy  against  her ;  but 
only  small  and  light  indications  of  such 
a  sort  as,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Court, 
to  engender  a  light  suspicion  against  her. 
And  such  a  one  must  be  required  to 
abj  ure  the  heresy  of  which  she  is 
accused ;  and  then,  if  she  relapses  into 
heresy,  she  is  nob  liable  to  the  punish¬ 
ment  of  backsliders,  although  she  must 
be  more  severely  punished  than  would 
be  the  case  if  she  had  not  previously 
abjured  the  heresy  (see  the  Canon  c. 
accusatus) .  The  following  procedure 
shall  be  followed  in  such  a  case.  For 
such  an  accused,  if  the  matter  be  a 
public  one,  will  publicly  make  the 
following  abjuration  in  the  Church : 

I,  N.,  of  such  a  Diocese,  a  citizen  of 
such  a  city  or  place,  being  on  my  trial, 
do  swear  before  you  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  such  a  city,  and  upon  the  Holy 
Gospels  placed  before  me  and  upon 
which  I  set  my  hand,  that  I  believe  in 


245 


Part  III.  Question  23.  MALEFICARUM 


my  heart  and  profess  with  my  lips  that 
Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Faith 
which  the  Holy  Roman  Church  believes, 
confesses,  preaches,  and  observes.  Also 
I  swear  that  I  believe  in  my  heart  and 
profess  with  my  lips  that  the  Lord  JESUS 
Christ,  in  company  with  all  the  Saints, 
abominates  the  wicked  heresy  of 
witches;  and  that  all  who  follow  or 
adhere  to  it  will  with  the  devil  and  his 
Angels  be  punished  in  eternal  fire  unless 
they  turn  their  hearts  and  are  reconciled 
by  the  penitence  of  the  Holy  Church. 
And  therefore  I  abjure,  renounce,  and 
revoke  that  heresy  of  which  you,  my 
Lord  Bishop,  and  your  Officers  hold  me 
suspected :  namely,  that  I  have  been 
familiar  with  witches,  have  ignorantly 
defended  their  errors,  have  held  in 
detestation  their  Inquisitors  and  prose¬ 
cutors,  or  that  I  have  failed  to  bring 
their  crimes  to  light.  Also  I  swear  that  I 
have  never  believed  the  aforesaid 
heresy,  nor  do  I  believe  it,  nor  have  I 
adhered,  nor  do  I  adhere  to  it,  nor  shall 
I  ever  believe,  adhere  to,  or  teach  it, 
nor  do  I  intend  to  teach  it.  And  if  I 
should  hereafter  be  guilty  of  any  of  the 
aforesaid  practices  (which  God  forbid), 
I  shall  willingly  submit  myself  to  the 
punishment  provided  by  law  for  such 
who  are  so  forsworn ;  and  I  am  ready  to 
undergo  any  penance  which  you  see  fit 
to  enjoin  me  for  those  words  or  deeds  of 
mine  for  which  you  hold  me  deservedly 
suspect;  and  I  swear  to  fulfil  such 
penance  to  the  best  of  my  strength,  and 
to  omit  no  part  of  it,  so  help  me  God 
and  these  Holy  Gospels. 

The  above  abjuration  shall  be  made 
in  the  common  speech,  so  that  all  may 
understand  it.  And  when  it  is  done,  the 
Judge,  if  he  is  present,  or  his  deputy 
shall  speak  to  her  in  the  common  speech 
to  the  following  effect : 

My  son  (or  daughter),  you  have  not 
unworthily  abjured  the  suspicion  which 
we  entertained  of  you,  and  have  purged 
yourself  by  the  aforesaid  abjuration. 
Beware  then  lest  hereafter  you  fall  into 
the  heresy  you  have  abjured.  For 
although,  if  you  should  repent,  you 
would  not  be  delivered  up  to  the  secular 
Court,  since  you  made  your  abjuration 
as  one  under  a  light,  and  not  a  strong, 
suspicion,  yet  you  would  then  be  far 
more  severely  punished  than  you  would 
have  been  if  you  had  not  abjured,  and 
you  would  then  rest  under  a  strong  in¬ 
stead  of  a  light  suspicion.  And  when  you 
should  abjure  as  such,  and  afterwards 


should  relapse,  you  would  suffer  the 
due  punishment  of  a  backslider,  and 
would  without  mercy  be  delivered  to 
the  secular  Court  to  endure  the  extreme 
penalty. 

But  if  she  makes  her  abjuration 
secretly  in  the  chamber  of  the  Bishop  or 
Judge,  which  will  be  the  case  when  the 
matter  is  not  a  public  one,  she  shall 
abjure  in  the  same  manner.  And  after¬ 
wards  sentence  shall  be  pronounced  as 
follows : 

We,  by  the  mercy  of  God  Bishop  of 
such  a  city,  or  (if  he  is  present)  Judge 
in  the  territory  subject  to  such  a  Prince, 
having  carefully  seen  and  examined  the 
merits  of  the  process  conducted  by  us 
against  you  In.,  accused  before  us  of 
heresy,  nnd  that  you  have  committed 
such  and  such  (naming  them)  which 
render  you  lightly  suspected  of  heresy, 
on  account  of  which  we  have  judged  it 
proper  to  cause  you  to  abjure  that 
heresy  as  one  lightly  suspected  of  it. 
But  not  for  that  can  you  be  dismissed 
unpunished.  And  that  you  may  become 
more  careful  in  the  future,  having  con¬ 
sulted  with  many  eminent  persons 
learned  in  the  law  and  with  religious 
men,  and  having  carefully  weighed  and 
digested  the  whole  matter,  having 
only  God  before  our  eyes,  and  the 
irrefragable  truth  of  the  Holy  Catholic 
Faith,  and  with  the  Holy  Gospels 
placed  before  us  that  our  sentence  may 
proceed  as  from  God’s  countenance  and 
that  our  eyes  may  see  with  equity,  and 
sitting  in  tribunal  as  Judge,  we  con¬ 
demn,  sentence,  or  rather  impose 
penance  upon  you  N.,  standing  in 
person  here  in  our  presence,  in  the 
following  manner.  Namely,  that  never 
hereafter  shall  you  knowingly  hold  to, 
associate  with,  defend  in  your  speech, 
read  (if  you  are  well  learned),  or  here¬ 
after,  etc.  And  let  there  be  set  down  that 
which  she  has  committed,  on  account 
of  which  she*  was  held  suspected  of  the 
crime  of  heresy.  This  sentence  and 
penance  were  given,  etc. 

And  let  the  Notary  take  care  that  he 
sets  it  down  in  the  process  that  such 
abjuration  was  made  as  by  one  under  a 
light,  not  a  strong,  suspicion  of  heresy ; 
for  otherwise  great  danger  might 
ensue. 


246 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  24. 


QJJESTION  XXIV 

The  Fifth  Manner  of  Sentence ,  in  the  Case  of 
one  under  Strong  Suspicion. 

THE  fifth  method  of  concluding  a 
process  on  behalf  of  the  faith  is 
used  when  she  who  is  accused  of  heresy, 
after  a  careful  examination  of  the 
merits  of  the  process  in  consultation 
with  learned  lawyers,  is  found  to  be 
strongly  suspected  of  heresy.  And  this 
is  when  the  accused  is  not  legally  taken 
in  heresy,  nor  has  been  convicted  by 
her  own  confession  or  by  the  evidence 
of  the  facts  or  by  the  legitimate  pro¬ 
duction  of  witnesses;  but  strong  and 
weighty  indications  have  been  proved 
against  her  by  reason  of  which  she  is 
held  to  be  under  strong  suspicion  of 
heresy. 

.The  procedure  in  such  a  case  is  as 
follows.  For  such  a  person  should 
abjure  that  heresy  as  one  strongly 
suspected  of  it,  in  such  a  manner  that, 
if  she  should  afterwards  relapse,  she 
must  be  delivered  to  the  secular  Court 
to  suffer  the  extreme  penalty.  And  she 
shall  make  her  abjuration  publicly  or 
secretly  according  to  whether  she  is 
publicly  or  secretly  suspected,  or  by 
more  or  less,  high  or  low,  as  was  just 
said  in  the  case  of  one  under  a  light 
suspicion;  and  she  must  abjure  that 
specific  heresy. 

And  the  preparations  for  such  an 
abjuration  should  be  as  follows : — When 
the  Sunday  comes  which  has  been  fixed 
for  the  abjuration  and  the  hearing  of 
the  sentence  or  the  imposition  of  the 
penance,  the  preacher  shall  deliver  a 
general  sermon.  After  this,  the  Notary  or 
clerk  shall  publicly  read  out  the  crimes 
of  which  the  accused  has  been  con¬ 
victed,  and  those  of  which  she  is  strongly 
suspected  as  a  heretic. 

Then  the  Judge  or  his  deputy  shall 
say  to  her :  Behold !  according  to  that 
which  has  been  read  you  are  strongly 
suspected  by  us  of  such  heresy ;  where¬ 
fore  it  behoves  you  to  purge  yourself 
and  abjure  the  aforesaid  heresy.  And 
then  the  Book  of  the  Gospels  shall  be 
placed  before  her,  and  she  shall  set 
her  hand  upon  it ;  and  if  she  can  read 
competently,  she  shall  be  given  the 
following  written  abjuration,  and  shall 
read  it  in  the  presence  of  the  whole 
congregation. 

But  if  she  cannot  read  competently, 
the  Notary  shall  read  it  phrase  by 


phrase,  and  the  accused  shall  repeat  it 
in  a  loud  and  audible  voice  in  the 
following  manner.  The  Notary  or  clerk 
shall  say:  I,  N.,  of  such  a  place,  and 
the  accused  person  shall  repeat  after 
him  the  same  words,  but  always  in  the 
vulgar  tongue.  And  so  on  up  to  the  end 
of  the  abjuration.  And  she  shall  abjure 
in  the  following  manner : 

I,  N.,  of  such  a  place  in  such  a  Diocese, 
standing  my  trial  in  person  in  presence 
of  you  reverend  Lords  the  Bishop 
of  such  city  and  the  Judge  of  the  terri¬ 
tory  subject  to  the  rule  of  such  a  Lord, 
upon  the  Holy  Gospels  set  before  me  and 
touched  by  my  hands,  I  swear  that  I 
believe  in  my  heart  and  profess  with 
my  lips  that  Holy  Catholic  and  Apos¬ 
tolic  Faith  which  the  Holy  Roman 
Church  teaches,  professes,  preaches, 
and  holds.  Also  I  swear  that  I  believe 
in  my  heart  and  profess  with  my  lips 
that,  etc.  And  let  her  pronounce  the 
Catholic  article  of  the  faith  against  that 
heresy  of  which  she  is  strongly  suspected. 

For  example,  if  the  heresy  of  witch¬ 
craft  is  in  question,  let  her  say  as 
follows  : 

I  swear  that  I  believe  that  not  only 
will  simple  heretics  and  schismatics  be 
tortured  in  fire  everlasting,  but  that 
those  above  all  will  be  so  punished  who 
are  infected  with  the  heresy  of  witches, 
who  deny  before  the  devil  that  faith 
which  they  received  in  Holy  Baptism  at 
the  font,  and  practise  demoniac  lewd¬ 
ness  for  the  fulfilment  of  their  evil 
desires,  inflicting  all  sorts  of  injuries 
upon  men  and  animals  and  the  fruits 
of  the  earth.  And  consequently  I 
abjure,  renounce,  and  revoke  that 
heresy,  or  rather  infidelity,  which  falsely 
and  mendaciously  maintains  that  there 
are  no  witches  in  the  world,  and  that  no 
one  ought  to  believe  that  those  injuries 
can  be  caused  with  the  help  of  devils ; 
for  such  infidelity  is,  as  I  now  recognize, 
expressly  contrary  to  the  decision  of  our 
Holy  Mother  the  Church  and  of  all 
the  Catholic  Doctors,  as  also  against 
the  Imperial  laws  which  have  decreed 
that  witches  are  to  be  burned. 

Also  I  swear  that  I  have  never  per¬ 
sistently  believed  in  the  aforesaid  heresy, 
neither  do  I  believe  nor  adhere  to  it  at 
the  present,  nor  have  I  taught  it,  nor 
intend  to  teach  it,  nor  shall  teach  it. 
Also  I  swear  and  promise  that  I  will 
never  do  or  cause  to  be  done  such  and 
such  (naming  them)  of  which  you  hold 
me  strongly  suspected  as  a  heretic. 


247 


Part  III.  Question  24.  MALEFICARUM 


And  if  hereafter  (which  God  forbid)  I 
should  do  any  of  the  aforesaid,  I  am 
ready  to  undergo  the  punishment  pro¬ 
vided  by  law  for  backsliders ;  and  1  am 
ready  to  submit  myself  to  any  penance 
which  you  decide  to  impose  upon  me 
for  those  deeds  and  words  of  mine  for 
which  you  hold  me  strongly  suspected 
of  the  said  heresy.  And  I  swear  and 
romise  that  I  will  perform  it  to  the 
est  of  my  strength,  and  will  omit  no 
part  of  it,  so  God  and  this  Holy  Gospel 
help  me. 

And  the  said  abjuration  shall  be  made 
in  the  vulgar  tongue  so  that  it  may  be 
understood  by  all,  unless  it  be  made 
only  in  the  presence  of  Clerics  with  a 
competent  knowledge  of  the  Latin 
tongue.  But  if  the  abjuration  be  made 
secretly  in  the  Bishop’s  palace  or 
chamber,  when  it  is  not  a  public 
matter,  it  shall  be  made  in  a  similar 
manner.  And  afterwards  the  Bishop 
shall  admonish  her  as  above  to  beware 
lest  she  relapse  and  incur  the  penalty 
of  a  backslider.  And  let  the  Notary 
take  care  that  he  set  it  down  how  such 
abjuration  was  made  by  such  a  person 
as  one  strongly  suspected  of  heresy,  so 
that,  if  she  should  relapse,  she  may  be 
punished  as  is  proper  for  a  backslider. 

And  when  this  has  been  done,  let  the 
sentence  or  penance  be  pronounced  in 
the  following  manner : 

We,  N.,  Bishop  of  such  city,  and 
Brother  N.  (if  he  is  present),  Inquisitor 
of  the  sin  of  heresy  in  the  domains 
subject  to  the  rule  of  such  a  Prince, 
especially  deputed  by  the  Holy  Apostolic 
See:  having  in  mind  that  you,  N.,  of 
such  a  place  in  such  a  Diocese,  have 
done  such  and  such  (naming  them),  as 
lawfully  appears  from  the  carefully 
examined  merits  of  the  process,  where¬ 
fore  we  reasonably  hold  you  strongly 
suspected  of  such  heresy,  and  have 
caused  you  to  abjure  it  as  one  $o  sus- 
ected,  being  persuaded  to  that  course 
y  ponsiderations  of  justice  and  the 
advice  of  men  skilled  in  the  law.  But 
that  you  may  be  more  careful  in  the 
future  nor  become  more  prone  to  the 
like  practices,  and  that  your  crimes  may 
not  remain  unpunished,  and  that  you 
may  be  an  example  to  other  sinners; 
having  consulted  with  many  eminent 
and  learned  lawyers  and  Masters  or 
Doctors  of  the  faculty  of  Theology, 
having  carefully  digested  the  whole 
matter,  and  having  before  our  eyes  only 
God  and  the  truth  of  the  Catholic  and 


Apostolic  Faith,  having  set  before  us  the 
Hnly  Gospel  that  our  judgement  may 
proceed  as  from  God’s  countenance  and 
our  eyes  see  with  equity,  and  sitting  in 
tribunal  as  Judges,  we  condemn,  or 
rather  impose  penance  in  the  following 
manner  upon  you,  N.,  standing  here  in 
person  before  us :  namely,  that  you  shall 
never  hereafter  presume  to  do,  say, 
or  teach  such  and  such  things.  And  let 
there  be  set  down  those  things  of  which 
she  has  been  convicted,  and  by  reason 
of  which  she  was  strongly  suspected  of 
the  aforesaid  heresy,  as  well  as  certain 
others  which,  if  she  were  to  commit 
them,  would  make  her  guilty  of  a  slight 
relapse  into  heresy;  but  this  must  be 
as  the  particular  nature  of  the  case 
demands  and  requires.  As,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  that  she  should  never  wittingly 
follow  such  practices,  nor  receive  those 
whom  she  knows  to  have  denied  the 
faith,  etc.  This  sentence  was  given,  etc. 

But  it  must  be  noted  that  those  who 
are  suspected,  but  not  taken  in  heresy, 
whether  they  be  strongly  or  lightly 
suspected,  must  not  be  imprisoned  or 
confined  for  life.  For  this  is  the  punish¬ 
ment  of  those  who  have  been  heretics 
and  afterwards  repented.  But  they  may, 
because  of  their  deeds  for  which  they 
have  come  under  suspicion,  be  sent  to 
prison  for  a  time,  and  afterwards,  as 
will  be  seen,  released. 

Neither  are  they  to  be  branded  with 
the  sign  of  the  Gross,  for  such  is  the 
sign  of  a  penitent  heretic ;  and  they  are 
not  convicted  heretics,  but  only  sus¬ 
pected,  therefore  they  are  not  to  be 
marked  in  this  way.  But  they  can  be 
ordered  either  to  stand  on  certain 
solemn  days  within  the  doors  of  a 
church,  or  near  the  altar,  while  Holy 
Mass  is  being  celebrated,  bearing  in 
their  hands  a  lighted  candle  of  a  certain 
weight;*  or  else  to  go  on  some  pil¬ 
grimage,  or  something  of  the  kind, 
according  to  the  nature  and  require¬ 
ments  of  the  case. 


*  lcA  Certain  Weight .”  This  was  exactly 
specified  when  sentence  was  delivered.  Thus 
JJrbain  Grandier  on  18  August ,  1634 ,  at 
Loudun ,  was  sentenced  “ to  make  honourable 
amends ,  with  bare  head,  a  rope  round  his  neck , 
and  with  a  burning  torch  of  two  pounds'  weight 
in  his  hand,  before  the  principal  door  of  the 
church  of  Saint-Pierre  du  March 6,  and  before 
that  of  Sainte  Ursule  of  this  town,  and  there , 
upon  his  knees,  to  ask  pardon  of  God  and  the 
King."  His  execution  followed. 


248 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  25. 


QUESTION  XXV 

The  Sixth  Kind  of  Sentence ,  in  the  Case  of 
one  who  is  Gravely  Suspect. 

THE  sixth  method  of  bringing  to 
a  conclusion  a  process  on  behalf 
of  the  faith  is  used  when  the  person 
accused  of  heresy,  after  a  careful 
examination  of  the  merits  of  the 
process  in  consultation  with  learned 
lawyers,  is  found  to  be  gravely  sus¬ 
pected  of  heresy.  And  this  is  when  the 
accused  is  not  convicted  of  heresy  by 
her  own  confession  or  by  the  evidence 
of  the  facts  or  by  the  legitimate 
production  of  witnesses,  but  there  are 
indications,  not  only  light  or  even 
strong,  but  very  strong  and  grave, 
which  render  her  gravely  suspected  of 
the  said  heresy,  and  by  reason  of  which 
she  must  be  judged  as  one  gravely 
suspected  of  the  said  heresy. 

And  for  a  clearer  understanding  of 
this,  we  shall  give  examples  both  of  a 
case  of  simple  heresy  and  of  the  heresy 
of  witches.  For  the  case  would  fall 
under  this  head  in  simple  heresy  if  the 
accused  were  not  lawfully  found  con¬ 
victed  by  his  own  confession,  etc.  as 
above,  but  for  something  which  he  had 
said  or  done.  As,  for  example,  he  may 
have  been  summoned  in  a  case  not 
concerning  the  faith,  and  have  been 
sentenced  to  excommunication;  and  if 
he  should  continue  obstinate  in  ex- 
communication  for  a  year  or  more,  he 
would  come  under  a  light  suspicion  of 
heresy ;  for  such  behaviour  is  not 
without  some  suspicion  of  heresy.  But 
if  he  should  then  be  summoned  on  a 
charge  concerning  the  faith,  and  should 
not  appear  but  contumaciously  refuse 
to  appear,  and  therefore  be  excom¬ 
municated,  then  he  would  be  strongly 
suspected  of  heresy ;  for  then  the  light 
suspicion  would  become  a  strong  one. 
And  if  he  remained  obstinate  in  that 
excommunication  for  a  year,  then  he 
would  be  gravely  suspected  of  heresy ; 
for  then  the  strong  suspicion  would 
become  a  grave  one,  against  which  no 
defence  is  admitted.  And  from  that 
time  such  a  person  would  be  condemned 
as  a  heretic,  as  is  shown  by  the  Canon, 
c.  cum  contumacia ,  lib.  6. 

An  example  of  a  grave  suspicion  in 
the  heresy  of  witches  would  be  when 
the  accused  has  said  or  done  anything 
which  is  practised  by  witches  when 
they  wish  to  bewitch  anyone.  And  it 


commonly  happens  that  they  are  con¬ 
strained  to  manifest  themselves  by 
threatening  words,  by  deeds,  by  a 
look  or  a  touch,  and  this  is  for  three 
reasons.  First  that  their  sins  may  be 
aggravated  and  more  manifest  to  their 
Judges;  secondly,  that  they  may  the 
more  easily  seduce  the  simple;  and 
thirdly,  that  God  may  be  the  more 
offended  and  they  may  be  granted  more 
power  of  injuring  men.  Therefore  a 
witch  must  be  gravely  suspected  when, 
after  she  has  used  such  threatening 
words  as  “I  shall  soon  make  you  feel,” 
or  the  like,  some  injury  has  befallen 
the  person  so  threatened  or  his  cattle. 
For  then  she  is  not  to  be  considered  as 
lightly  suspected,  as  was  the  case  with 
those  who  are  familiar  with  witches,  or 
those  who  wish  to  provoke  someone  to 
inordinate  love.  See  above  where  we 
deal  with  the  three  degrees  of  suspicion, 
light,  strong,  and  grave. 

Now  we  must  consider  what  pro¬ 
cedure  is  to  be  observed  in  such  a  case. 
For  in  the  case  of  one  gravely  suspected 
of  simple  heresy,  the  following  is  the 
procedure.  Although  he  may  not  in 
actual  truth  be  a  heretic,  since  there 
may  not  be  any  error  in  his  under¬ 
standing,  or  if  there  is,  he  may  not  cling 
obstinately  to  it  in  his  will :  nevertheless 
he  is  to  be  condemned  as  a  heretic 
because  of  the  said  grave  suspicion, 
against  which  no  proof  is  admitted. 

Such  a  heretic  is  condemned  in  this 
manner.  If  he  refuses  to  return  and 
abjure  his  heresy  and  gi*e  fitting 
satisfaction,  he  is  delivered  to  the 
secular  Court  to  be  punished.  But 
if  he  is  willing  and  consents,  he  abjures 
his  heresy  and  is  imprisoned  for  life. 
And  the  same  holds  good  in  the  case  of 
one  gravely  suspected  of  the  heresy  of 
witches. 

But  although  the  same  method  in  the 
main  is  to  be  observed  in  the  case  of 
one  gravely  suspected  of  the  heresy  of 
witches,  there  are  some  differences. 
It  is  to  be  noted  that,  if  the  witch 
maintains  her  denial,  or  claims  that 
she  uttered  those  words  not  with  the 
implied  intention  but  in  a  vehement 
and  womanish  passion ;  then  the  Judge 
has  not  sufficient  warrant  to  sentence 
her  to  the  flames,  in  spite  of  the  grave 
suspicion.  Therefore  he  must  place 
her  in  prison,  and  cause  inquiry  to  be 
made  by  proclamation  whether  she  has 
been  known  to  have  done  the  like 
before.  And  if  it  is  found  that  this  is 


Part  III.  Question  25.  MALEFICARUM 


249 


so,  he  must  inquire  whether  she  was 
then  publicly  defamed  in  respect  of 
that  heresy ;  and  from  this  he  can 
proceed  further  so  that,  before  all 
else,  she  may  be  exposed  to  an  interro¬ 
gation  under  the  question  and  torture. 
And  then,  if  she  shows  signs  of  such 
heresy,  or  of  the  taciturnity  of  witches ; 
as  that  she  should  be  unable  to  shed 
tears,  or  remain  insensible  under  tor¬ 
ture  and  quickly  recover  her  strength 
afterwards;  then  he  may  proceed  with 
the  various  precautions  which  we  have 
already  explained  where  we  dealt 
with  such  cases. 

And  in  case  all  should  fail,  then  let 
him  take  note  that,  if  she  has  per¬ 
petrated  the  like  before,  she  is  not  to 
be  altogether  released,  but  must  be 
sent  to  the  squalor  of  prison  for  a  year, 
and  be  tortured,  and  be  examined  very 
often,  especially  on  the  more  Holy 
Days.  But  if,  in  addition  to  this,  she 
has  been  defamed,  then  the  Judge 
may  proceed  in  the  manner  already 
shown  in  the  case  of  simple  heresy,  and 
condemn  her  to  the  fire,  especially  if 
there  is  a  multitude  of  witnesses  and 
she  had  often  been  detected  in  similar 
or  other  deeds  of  witchcraft.  But  if  he 
wishes  to  be  merciful,  he  may  set  her  a 
canonical  purgation,  that  she  should 
find  twenty  or  thirty  sponsors,  sen¬ 
tencing  her  in  such  a  way  that,  if  she 
should  fail  in  her  purgation,  she  shall 
be  condemned  to  the  fire  as  convicted. 
And  the  Judge  can  proceed  in  such  a 
manner. 

And  if  she  should  purge  herself,  then 
the  Judge  must  sentence  her  to  an 
abjuration  of  all  heresy,  on  pain  of 
the  punishment  for  backsliders,  together 
with  a  perpetual  penance,  in  the 
following  manner.  The  preparations  for 
the  abjuration  will  be  the  same  as  were 
explained  in  the  fourth  and  fifth 
methods  of  concluding  a  process  on 
behalf  of  the  faith. 

Note  that  in  all  the  following  methods 
of  pronouncing  sentence,  when  the 
Judge  wishes  to  proceed  in  a  merciful 
manner  he  can  act  in  the  way  we  have 
already  explained.  But  since  secular 
Judges  use  their  own  various  methods, 
proceeding  with  rigour  but  not  always 
with  equity,  no  fixed  rule  or  method 
can  be  given  for  them  as  it  can  for  an 
ecclesiastical  Judge,  who  can  receive 
the  abjuration  and  impose  a  perpetual 
penance  in  the  following  manner  : 

I,  N.,  of  such  a  place  in  such  a  Diocese, 
s 


standing  in  person  before  you  my 
venerable  Lords  the  Bishop  of  such  city 
and  Judges,  having  touched  with  my 
hands  the  Holy  Gospel  placed  before 
me,  swear  that  I  believe  in  my  heart 
and  profess  with  my  lips  the  Holy 
Catholic  and  Apostolic  Faith  which 
the  Holy  Roman  Church  holds,  pro¬ 
fesses,  believes,  preaches  and  teaches. 
And  consequently  I  abjure  all  heresy, 
and  renounce  and  revoke  all  who  raise 
themselves  against  the  Holy  Roman 
and  Apostolic  Church,  of  whatever 
sect  or  error  they  be.  Also  I  swear  and 
promise  that  I  shall  never  hencefor¬ 
ward  do,  say,  or  cause  to  be  done  such 
and  such  (naming  them)  which  1  have 
done  and  said,  and  for  which,  in  my 
guilt,  you  hold  me  gravely  suspected  of 
the  said  heresy.  Also  I  swear  and 
promise  that  I  will  perform  every 
penance  which  you  wish  to  impose 
upon  me  for  the  said  crimes  to  the  best 
of  my  strength,  and  that  I  will  not 
omit  any  part  of  it,  so  help  me  God 
and  the  Holy  Gospel.  And  if  (which 
God  forbid)  I  should  hereafter  act  in 
contravention  of  this  abjuration,  I  here 
and  now  bind  and  oblige  myself  to 
suffer  the  due  punishments  for  back¬ 
sliders,  however  severe  they  be. 

Let  the  Notary  take  care  to  set  it 
down  that  the  said  abjuration  was  made 
by  one  gravely  suspected  of  heresy,  so 
that  if  she  should  be  proved  to  have 
relapsed,  she  should  then  be  judged 
accordingly  and  delivered  up  to  the 
secular  Court. 

After  this  let  the  Bishop  absolve  her 
from  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
which  she  has  incurred  as  one  gravely 
suspected  of  heresy.  For  when  a  heretic 
returns  to  the  faith  and  abjures  his 
heresy,  he  is  to  be  released  from  the 
sentence  of  excommunication  which  is 
passed  on  all  heretics.  Similarly,  such 
a  one  as  we  are  considering  was  con¬ 
demned  as  a  heretic,  as  we  have  said ; 
but  after  she  has  abjured  her  heresy 
she  is  to  be  released  from  excommunica¬ 
tion;  and  after  this  absolution  she  is 
to  be  sentenced  in  the  following  manner  : 

We  N.,  Bishop  of  such  city,  and,  if 
he  is  present,  Judge  in  the  territory 
of  such  Lord,  seeing  that  you  N.,  of 
such  a  place  in  such  a  Diocese,  have 
been  accused  before  us  of  such  and 
such  touching  the  faith  (naming  them) , 
and  that  we  have  proceeded  to  inform 
ourselves  concerning  them  as  justice 
demanded  by  a  careful  examination 


250 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  26. 


of  the  merits  of  the  process  and  of  all 
that  has  been  done  and  said  in  the 

E resent  case,  have  found  that  you 
ave  committed  such  and  such  (naming 
them).  Wherefore,  and  not  without 
reason  holding  you  gravely  suspect 
of  such  heresy  (naming  it),  we  have 
caused  you  as  one  so  suspected  publicly 
to  abjure  all  heresy  in  general,  as  the 
canonical  sanctions  bid  us.  And  since 
according  to  those  same  canonical 
institutions  all  such  are  to  be  con¬ 
demned  as  heretics,  but  you  holding 
to  wiser  counsel  and  returning  to  the 
bosom  of  our  Holy  Mother  the  Church 
have  abjured,  as  we  have  said,  all  vile 
heresy,  therefore  we  absolve  you  from 
the  sentence  of  excommunication  by 
which  you  were  deservedly  bound  as 
one  hateful  to  the  Church  of  God. 
And  if  with  true  heart  and  faith 
unfeigned  you  have  returned  to  the 
unity  of  the  Church,  you  shall  be 
reckoned  from  henceforth  among  the 
penitent,  and  as  from  now  are  received 
back  into  the  merciful  bosom  of  the 
Holy  Church.  But  since  it  would  be 
most  scandalous  to  pass  over  with 
connivent  eyes  and  leave  unpunished 
your  offences  against  God  and  your 
injuries  to  men,  for  it  is  a  graver 
matter  to  offend  the  Divine  Majesty 
than  a  human  monarch,  and  that 
your  crimes  may  not  be  an  incentive 
for  other  sinners,  and  that  you  may 
become  more  careful  in  the  future  and 
less  prone  to  commit  again  the  afore¬ 
said  crimes,  and  may  suffer  the  less 
punishment  in  the  next  world :  We  the 
aforesaid  Bishop  and  Judge,  having 
availed  ourselves  of  the  wise  and  con¬ 
sidered  advice  of  learned  men  in  this 
matter,  sitting  in  tribunal  as  Judges 
judging,  having  before  our  eyes  only 
God  and  the  irrefragable  truth  of  the 
Holy  Faith,  with  the  Holy  Gospels 
placed  before  us  that  our  judgement 
may  proceed  as  from  the  countenance 
of  God  and  our  eyes  see  with  equity, 
sentence  and  condemn,  or  rather  impose 
penance  in  the  following  manner  upon 
you  N.,  appearing  in  person  before 
us  on  the  day  and  at  the  hour  which 
was  before  assigned  to  you.  First,  you 
shall  put  on  over  all  the  garments  which 
you  wear  a  grey-blue  garment  after 
the  manner  of  a  monk’s  scapulary, 
made  without  a  hood  either  before 
or  behind,  and  having  upon  it  crosses 
of  yellow  cloth  three  palms  long  and 
two  palms  wide,  and  you  shall  wear 


this  garment  over  all  others  for  such 
a  length  of  time  (setting  a  period  of 
one  or  two  years,  more  or  less  as  the 
guilt  of  the  person  demands).  And 
m  the  said  garment  and  crosses  you 
shall  stand  in  the  door  of  such  a  church 
at  such  a  time  for  so  long,  or  on  the 
four  major  Feasts*  of  the  Glorious 
Virgin,  or  in  such  and  such  cities  in 
the  doors  of  such  and  such  churches; 
and  we  sentence  and  condemn  you  for 
life,  or  for  such  a  period,  to  such  a 
prison.  (Let  this  be  set  down  as  seems 
most  to  the  honour  of  the  faith,  and 
according  to  the  greater  or  less  guilt 
and  obstinacy  of  the  accused.)  And 
we  expressly,  and  in  the  sure  knowledge 
that  it  is  so  ordained  by  canonical 
institution,  reserve  to  ourselves  the 
right  to  mitigate  the  said  penance,  to 
increase  it,  change  it,  or  remove  it, 
in  whole  or  in  part,  as  often  as  seems 
good  to  us.  This  sentence  was  given, 
etc. 

And  when  this  has  been  read,  it  shall 
at  once  be  duly  put  into  execution,  and 
she  shall  be  clothed  with  the  aforesaid 
garment  with  the  crosses  as  has  been 
said. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XXVI 

The  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon  one 
who  is  both  Suspect  and  Defamed. 

THE  seventh  method  of  bringing 
to  a  conclusion  a  process  on  behalf 
of  the  faith  is  employed  when  the 
person  accused  of  the  sin  of  heresy, 
after  a  careful  examination  of  the 
merits  of  the  process  in  consultation 
with  men  learned  in  the  law,  is  found 
to  be  both  suspected  and  defamed  of 
heresy.  And  this  is  when  the  accused 
is  not  legally  convicted  by  his  own 
confession  or  by  the  evidence  of  the 
facts  or  by  the  legitimate  production 
of  witnesses ;  but  is  found  to  be  publicly 

*  “ Four  Major  Feasts .”  Presumably  the 
Annunciation ,  the  Visitation ,  Assumption ,  and 
Nativity  of  Our  Lady  are  intended.  Candlemas , 
which  in  the  Middle  Ages  had  an  octave  in  many 
dioceses ,  may  be  intended  instead  of  the  Visitation. 
The  last  Pope ,  Sixtus  IV,  had  in  1470  published 
a  work  on  the  Immaculate  Conception.  By  a 
decree  of  28  February,  1476,  this  Pontiff 
adopted  the  Feast  of  Our  Lady's  Conception  for 
the  entire  Latin  Church  and  granted  an  indul¬ 
gence  to  all  who  should  assist  at  the  Divine 
Office  of  this  Solemnity. 


251 


Part  III.  Question  26.  MALEFICARUM 


defamed,  and  there  are  also  other 
indications  which  render  him  lightly 
or  strongly  suspected  of  heresy :  as  that 
he  has  held  much  familiarity  with 
heretics.  And  such  a  person  must, 
because  of  his  defamation,  undergo  a 
canonical  purgation;  and  because  of 
the  suspicion  against  him  he  must 
abjure  the  heresy. 

The  procedure  in  such  a  case  will 
be  as  follows.  Such  a  person,  being 
publicly  defamed  for  heresy,  and  being 
in  addition  to  this  suspected  of  heresy 
by  reason  of  certain  other  indications, 
shall  first  publicly  purge  himself  in  the 
manner  which  we  explained  in  the 
second  method.  Having  performed  this 
purgation,  he  shall  immediately,  as 
one  against  whom  there  are  other 
indications  of  the  suspected  heresy, 
abjure  that  heresy  in  the  following 
manner,  having  before  him,  as  before, 
the  Book  of  the  Gospels : 

I,  N.,  of  such  a  place  in  such  a 
Diocese,  standing  my  trial  in  person 
before  you  my  Lords,  N.,  Bishop  of  such 
city  and  Judge  in  the  territory  of  such 
Prince,  having  touched  with  my  hands 
the  Holy  Gospels  placed  before  me, 
swear  that  I  believe  in  my  heart  and 
profess  with  my  lips  that  Holy  Apostolic 
Faith  which  the  Roman  Church  be¬ 
lieves,  professes,  preaches  and  observes. 
And  consequently  I  abjure,  detest, 
renounce  and  revoke  every  heresy 
which  rears  itself  up  against  the  Holy 
and  Apostolic  Church,  of  whatever 
sect  or  error  it  be,  etc.,  as  above. 

Also  I  swear  and  promise  that  I  will 
never  hereafter  do  or  say  or  cause  to 
be  done  such  and  such  (naming  them) , 
for  which  I  am  justly  defamed  as  having 
committed  them,  and  of  which  you 
hold  me  suspected.  Also  I  swear  and 
promise  that  I  will  perform  to  the  best 
of  my  strength  every  penance  which 
you  impose  upon  me,  nor  will  I  omit 
any  part  of  it,  so  help  me  God  and 
this  Holy  Gospel;  And  if  hereafter  I 
should  act  in  any  way  contrary  to  this 
oath  and  abjuration  (which  God  for¬ 
bid),  I  here  and  now  freely  submit, 
oblige,  and  bind  myself  to  the  legal 
punishment  for  such,  to  the  limit  of 
sufferance,  when  it  shall  have  been 
proved  that  I  have  committed  such 
things. 

But  it  must  be  noted  that  when  the 
indications  are  so  strong  as  to  render 
the  accused,  either  with  or  without  the 
aforesaid  defamation,  strongly  suspected 


of  heresy,  then  he  shall,  as  above, 
abjure  all  heresy  in  general.  And  if  he 
relapses  into  any  heresy,  he  shall  suffer 
the  due  punishment  of  a  backslider. 
But  if  the  indications  are  so  small  and 
slight  as,  even  taken  together  with  the 
said  defamation,  not  to  render  him 
strongly,  but  only  lightly,  suspected 
of  heresy,  then  it  is  enough  if  he  makes 
not  a  general  abjuration,  but  specifically 
abjures  that  heresy  of  which  he  is 
suspected ;  so  that,  if  he  were  to  relapse 
into  another  form  of  heresy,  he  would 
not  be  liable  to  the  penalty  for  back¬ 
sliders.  And  even  if  he  were  to  relapse 
into  the  same  heresy  which  he  had 
abjured,  he  would  still  not  be  liable 
to  the  said  penalty,  although  he  would 
be  more  severely  punished  than  would 
have  been  the  case  if  he  had  not 
abjured. 

But  there  is  a  doubt  whether  he  would 
be  liable  to  the  penalty  for  back¬ 
sliders  if,  after  his  canonical  purgation, 
he  should  relapse  into  the  same  heresy 
of  which  he  was  canonically  purged. 
And  it  would  seem  that  this  would  be 
so,  from  the  Canon  Law,  c.  excom« 
municamus  and  c.  ad  abolendam.  There¬ 
fore  the  Notary  must  take  great  care  to 
set  it  down  whether  such  a  person  has 
made  his  abjuration  as  one  under  a 
light  or  a  strong  suspicion  of  heresy; 
for,  as  we  have  often  said,  there  is  a 
great  difference  between  these.  And 
when  this  has  been  done,  sentence  or 
penance  shall  be  pronounced  in  the 
following  manner : 

We,  N.,  Bishop  of  such  city  or  Judge 
in  the  territories  of  such  Prince,  having 
diligently  in  mind  that  you,  N.,  of  such 
a  place  in  such  a  Diocese,  have  been 
accused  before  us  of  such  heresy  (naming 
it) ;  and  wishing  to  inquire  judicially 
whether  you  have  fallen  into  the  said 
heresy,  by  examining  witnesses,  by 
summoning  and  questioning  you  upon 
oath,  and  by  all  convenient  means  in 
our  power,  we  have  acted  and  proceeded 
as  it  behoved. 

Having  digested,  observed  and  di¬ 
ligently  inspected  all  the  facts,  and 
having  discussed  the  merits  of  the 
process  of  this  case,  examining  all  and 
singular  which  has  been  done  and 
said,  and  having  consulted  with  and 
obtained  the  mature  opinion  of  many 
learned  Theologians  and  lawyers,  we 
find  that  you  have  been  in  such  place 
or  places  publicly  defamed  by  good 
and  sober  men  for  the  said  heresy; 


252 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  27- 


wherefore,  as  we  are  bidden  by  the 
canonical  institutions,  we  have  imposed 
upon  you  a  canonical  purgation  by 
which  you  and  your  sponsors  have 
here  publicly  purged  yourself  before 
us.  We  find  also  that  you  have  com¬ 
mitted  such  and  such  (naming  them), 
by  reason  of  which  we  have  just  cause 
to  hold  you  strongly  or  lightly  (let  it 
be  said  whether  it  is  one  or  the  other) 
suspected  of  the  said  heresy ;  and 
therefore  we  have  caused  you  to  abjure 
heresy  as  one  under  such  suspicion 
(here,  if  he  has  abjured  as  one  under 
strong  suspicion,  let  them  say  “all 
heresy” ;  and  if  as  one  under  light 
suspicion,  “the  said  heresy”). 

But  because  we  cannot  and  must  not 
in  any  way  tolerate  that  which  you 
have  done,  but  are  injustice  compelled 
to  abominate  it,  that  you  may  become 
more  careful  in  the  future,  and  that 
your  crimes  may  not  remain  un¬ 
punished,  and  that  others  may  not  be 
encouraged  to  fall  into  the  like  sins, 
and  that  the  injuries  to  the  Creator 
may  not  easily  be  passed  over :  There¬ 
fore  against  you,  N.,  having  so  purged 
yourself  and  abjured,  standing  per¬ 
sonally  in  our  presence  in  this  place 
at  the  time  which  was  assigned  to  you, 
We,  the  aforesaid  Bishop  or  Judge,  sit¬ 
ting  in  tribunal  as  Judges  judging, 
having  before  us  the  Holy  Gospels  that 
our  judgement  may  proceed  as  from 
the  countenance  of  God  and  our  eyes 
see  with  equity,  pronounce  sentence  or 
penance  in  the  following  manner, 
namely,  that  you  must,  etc. 

And  let  them  pronounce  sentence  as 
shall  seem  most  to  the  honour  of  the 
faith  and  the  extermination  of  the  sin  of 
heresy :  as  that  on  certain  Sundays 
and  Festivals  he  must  stand  at  the 
door  of  such  a  church,  holding  a  candle 
of  such  a  weight,  during  the  solemniza¬ 
tion  of  Holy  Mass,  with  head  uncovered 
and  bare  feet,  and  offer  the  said  candle 
at  the  altar;  and  that  he  must  fast  on 
Fridays,  and  that  for  a  certain  period 
he  must  not  dare  to  depart  from  that 
place,  but  present  himself  before  the 
Bishop  or  Judge  on  certain  days  of  the 
week;  and  any  similar  penance  which 
seems  to  be  demanded  by  the  particular 
nature  of  his  guilt ;  for  it  is  impossible 
to  give  a  hard-and-fast  rule.  This 
sentence  was  given,  etc.  And  let  it  be 
put  into  execution  after  it  has  been 
pronounced;  and  it  can  be  cancelled, 
mitigated  or  changed  as  may  be 


required  by  the  condition  of  the 
enitent  and  for  his  correction  and 
umiliation;  for  the  Bishop  has  this 
power  by  law. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XXVII 

The  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon  one 
who  hath  Confessed  to  Heresy ,  but  is 
not  Penitent. 

THE  eighth  method  of  terminating 
a  process  on  behalf  of  the  faith 
is  used  when  the  person  accused  of 
heresy,  after  a  careful,. examination  of 
the  merits  of  the  process  in  consultation 
with  learned  lawyers,  is  found  to  have 
confessed  his  heresy,  but  to  be  penitent, 
and  not  truly  to  have  relapsed  into 
heresy.  And  this  is  when  the  accused 
has  himself  confessed  in  a  Court  of  law 
under  oath  before  the  Bishop  and 
Inquisitor  that  he  has  for  so  long  lived 
ana  persisted  in  that  heresy  of  which  he 
is  accused,  or  in  any  other,  and  has 
believed  in  and  adhered  to  it ;  but  that 
afterwards,  being  persuaded  by  the 
Bishop  and  others,  he  wishes  ,  to  be 
converted  and  to  return  to  the  bosom 
of  the  Church,  and  to  abjure  that  and 
every  heresy,  and  to  make  such  satis¬ 
faction  as  they  require  of  him ;  and  it 
is  found  that  he  has  made  no  previous 
abjuration  of  any  other  heresy,  but  is 
now  willing  and  prepared  to  abjure. 

In  such  a  case  the  procedure  will  be 
as  follows..  Although  such  a  person  has 
for  many  years  persisted  in  the  said 
heresy  and  even  in  others,  and  has 
believed  and  practised  them  and  led 
many  others  into  error;  yet  if  at  last 
he  has  consented  to  abjure  those 
heresies  and  to  make  such  satisfaction 
as  the  Bishop  and  the  ecclesiastical 
Judge  shall  decree,  he  is  not  to  be 
delivered  up  to  the  secular  Court  to 
suffer  the  extreme  penalty;  nor,  if  he 
is  a  cleric,  is  he  to  be  degraded.  But 
he  is  to  be  admitted  to  mercy,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  Canon  ad  abolendam.  And 
after  he  has  abjured  his  former  heresy 
he  is  to  be  confined  in  prison  for  life 
(see  the  Canon  excommunicamus ,  where 
it  provides  for  the  absolution  of  such). 
But  great  care  must  be  taken  that  he 
has  not  simulated  a  false  penitence  in 
order  to  be  received  back  into  the 
Church.  Also  the  secular  Court  is  not 
at  all  bound  by  such  a  sentence  as  the 
above. 


253 


Part  III.  Question  27.  MALEFICARUM 


He  shall  make  his  abjuration  in  the 
manner  already  set  out,  with  this 
difference.  He  shall  with  his  own  mouth 
confess  his  crimes  before  the  congrega¬ 
tion  in  church  on  a  Feast  Day,  in  the 
following  manner.  The  clerk  shall  ask 
him,  Have  you  for  so  many  years 
ersisted  in  the  heresy  of  witches?  And 
e  shall  answer,  Yes.  And  then,  Have 
you  done  this  and  this  to  which  you 
have  confessed?  And  he  shall  answer, 
Yes.  And  so  on.  And  finally  he  shall 
make  his  abjuration  kneeling  on  his 
knees.  And  since,  having  been  con¬ 
victed  of  heresy,  he  has  been  excom¬ 
municated,  after  he  has  by  abjuration 
returned  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church, 
he  is  to  be  granted  the  grace  of  absolu¬ 
tion,  according  to  the  manner  used  by 
the  Bishops  with  Apostolic  authority  of 
absolving  from  the  major  excommuni¬ 
cation.  And  sentence  shall  at  once  be 
pronounced  in  the  following  manner: 

We,  the  Bishop  of  such  city,  or  the 
Judge  in  the  territories  of  such  Prince, 
seeing  that  you,  N.,  of  such  a  place 
in  such  a  Diocese,  have  been  by  public 
report  and  the  information  of  credible 
persons  accused  before  us  of  the  sin  of 
heresy;  and  since  you  had  for  many 
years  been  infected  with  that  heresy 
to  the  great  damage  of  your  soul ;  and 
because  this  accusation  against  you  has 
keenly  wounded  our  hearts :  we  whose 
duty  it  is  by  reason  of  the  office  which 
we  have  received  to  plant  the  Holy 
Catholic  Faith  in  the  hearts  of  men 
and  to  keep  away  all  heresy  from  their 
minds,  wishing  to  be  more  certainly 
informed  whether  there  was  any  truth 
in  the  report  which  had  come  to  our 
ears,  in  order  that,  if  it  were  true,  we 
might  provide  a  healthy  and  fitting 
remedy,  proceeded  in  the  best  way 
which  was  open  to  us  to  question  and 
examine  witnesses  and  to  interrogate 
you  on  oath  concerning  that  of  which 
you  were  accused,  doing  all  and  singu¬ 
lar  which  was  required  of  us  by  justice 
and  the  canonical  sanctions. 

And  since  we  wished  to  bring  your 
case  to  a  suitable  conclusion,  and  to 
have  a  clear  understanding  of  your  past 
state  of  mind,  whether  you  were  walk¬ 
ing  in  the  darkness  or  in  the  light,  and 
whether  or  not  you  had  fallen  into 
the  sin  of  heresy;  having  conducted 
the  whole  process,  we  summoned 
together  in  council  before  us  learned 
men  of  the  Theological  faculty  and 
men  skilled  in  both  the  Canon  and  the 


Civil  Law,  knowing  that,  according 
to  canonical  institution,  the  judgement 
is  sound  which  is  confirmed  by  the 
opinion  of  many;  and  having  on  all 
details  consulted  the  opinion  of  the 
said  learned  men,  and  having  diligently 
and  carefully  examined  all  the  circum¬ 
stances  of  the  process;  we  find  that 
you  are,  by  your  own  confession  made 
on  oath  before  Us  in  the  Court,  con¬ 
victed  of  many  of  the  sins  of  witches. 
(Let  them  be  expressed  in  detail.) 

But  since  the  Lord  in  His  infinite 
mercy  permits  men  at  times  to  fall 
into  heresies  and  errors,  not  only  that 
learned  Catholics  may  be  exercised- 
in  sacred  arguments,  but  that  they 
who  have  fallen. from  the  faith  may 
become  more  humble  thereafter  and 
perform  works  of  penitence:  having 
carefully  discussed  the  circumstances  of 
this  same  process,  we  find  that  you,  at 
our  frequent  instance  and  following 
the  advice  of  us  and  other  honest  men, 
have  with  a  healthy  mind  returned  to 
the  unity  and  bosom  of  the  Holy 
Mother  Church,  detesting  the  said 
errors  and  heresies,  and  acknowledging 
the  irrefragable  truth  of  the  Holy 
Catholic  Faith,  laying  it  to  your  inmost 
heart :  wherefore,  following  in  His 
footsteps  Who  wishes  that  no  one 
should  perish,  we  have  admitted  you 
to  this  adjuration  and  public  abjuration 
of  the  said  and  all  other  heresies.  And 
having  done  this,  we  absolve  you  from 
the  sentence  of  major  excommunica¬ 
tion  by  which  you  were  bound  for  your 
fall  into  heresy,  and  reconciling  you 
to  the  Holy  Mother  Church  we  restore 
you  to  the  sacraments  of  the  Church; 
provided  that  with  a  true  heart,  and 
not  with  simulated  faith,  you  return  to 
the  unity  of  the  Church,  as  we  believe 
and  hope  that  you  have  done. 

But  because  it  would  be  a  very 
scandalous  thing  to  avenge  the  injuries 
done  to  temporal  Lords  and  to  tolerate 
the  offences  committed  against  God 
the  Creator  of  all  the  Heavens,  since 
it  is  a  far  greater  sin  to  offend  against 
the  Eternal  than  against  a  temporal 
Majesty,  and  that  God  Who  pities 
sinners  may  have  mercy  upon  you,  that 
you  may  be  an  example  for  others, 
and  that  your  sins  may  not  remain 
unpunished,  and  that  you  may  become 
more  careful  in  the  future,  and  not 
more  prone  but  less  apt  to  commit 
the  said  and  any  other  crimes :  We  the 
said  Bishop  and  Judge,  or  Judges,  on 


254 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  28. 


behalf  of  the  faith,  sitting  in  tribunal 
as  Judges  judging,  etc.,  as  above  .  .  . 
that  you  put  on  a  grey-blue  garment, 
etc.  Also  we  sentence  and  condemn 
you  to  perpetual  imprisonment,  there 
to  be  punished  with  the  bread  of 
affliction  and  the  water  of  distress;* 
reserving  to  ourselves  the  right  to 
mitigate,  aggravate,  change,  or  remit 
wholly  or  in  part  the  said  sentence  if, 
when,  and  as  often  as  it  shall  seem  good 
to  us  to  do  so.  This  sentence  was 
given,  etc. 

After  this  the  Judge  shall  proceed 
point  by  point,  pronouncing  sentence 
in  the  following  or  some  similar  manner : 

My  son,  your  sentence  or  penance 
consists  in  this,  that  you  bear  this  cross 
during  the  whole  period  of  your  life, 
that  you  stand  so  bearing  it  on  the 
altar  steps  or  in  the  door  of  such 
churches,  and  that  you  be  imprisoned 
for  life  on  bread  and  water.  But,  my 
son,  lest  this  may  seem  too  hard  for 
you,  I  assure  you  that  if  you  patiently 
bear  your  punishment  you  will  find 
mercy  with  us ;  therefore  doubt  not  nor 
despair,  but  hope  strongly. 

After  this,  let  the  sentence  be  duly 
executed,  and  let  him  put  on  the  said 
garment  and  be  placed  on  high  upon 
the  altar  steps  in  full  view  of  the  people 
as  they  go  out,  surrounded  by  the 
officers  of  the  secular  Court.  And  at  the 
dinner  hour  let  him  be  led  by  the 
officers  to  prison,  and  the  rest  of  the 
sentence  be  carried  out  and  duly 
performed.  And  after  he  is  led  out 
through  the  door  of  the  church,  let  the 
ecclesiastical  Judge  have  no  more  to 
do  with  the  matter ;  and  if  the  secular 
Court  be  satisfied,  it  is  well,  but  if  not, 
let  it  do  its  pleasure. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XXVIII 

The  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon 
one  who  hath  Confessed  to  Heresy  but 
is  Relapsed ,  Albeit  now  Penitent. 

THE  ninth  method  of  arriving  at  a 
conclusive  sentence  in  a  process  on 
behalf  of  the  faith  is  used  when  the 
person  accused  of  heresy,  after  a  careful 


*  “Distress.”  ‘7 II.  Kings ”  (A.V.,  ‘7. 

Kings”)  xxii,  27:  Put  this  man  in  prison ,  and 
feed  him  with  bread  of  affliction,  and  water  of 
distress. 


investigation  of  the  circumstances  of 
the  process  in  consultation  with  men 
of  good  judgement,  is  found  to  have 
confessed  her  heresy  and  to  be  penitent, 
but  that  she  has  truly  relapsed.  And 
this  is  when  the  accused  herself  con¬ 
fesses  in  Court  before  the  Bishop  or 
Judges  that  she  has  at  another  time 
abjured  all  heresy,  and  this  is  legally 
proved,  and  that  she  has  afterwards 
fallen  into  such  a  heresy  or  error : 
or  that  she  has  abjured  some  particular 
heresy,  such  as  that  of  witches,  and  has 
afterwards  returned  to  it ;  but  that 
following  better  advice  she  is  penitent, 
and  believes  the  Catholic  faith,  and 
returns  to  the  unity  of  the  Church. 
Such  a  one  is  not,  if  she  humbly  ask  for 
them,  to  be  denied  the  sacraments  of 
Penance  and  the  Eucharist;  but  how¬ 
ever  much  she  may  repent,  she  is 
nevertheless  to  be  delivered  up  as  a 
backslider  to  the  secular  Court  to 
suffer  the  extreme  penalty.  But  it  must 
Te  uridefstood  that  this  refers  to  one 
who  had  made  her  abjuration  as  one 
manifestly  taken  in  heresy,  or  as  one 
strongly  suspected  of  heresy,  and  not 
to  one  who  has  so  done  as  being  under 
only  a  light  suspicion. 

The  following  procedure  must  be 
observed  in  this  case.  When,  after 
mature  and  careful  and,  if  necessary, 
repeated  investigation  by  learned  men, 
it  has  been  concluded  that  the  said 
prisoner  has  actually  and  prepense 
relapsed  into  heresy,  the  Bishop  or 
Judge  shall  send  to  the  said  prisoner 
in  the  place  of  detention  two  or  three 
honest  men,  especially  religious  or 
clerics,  who  are  zealous  for  the  faith, 
of  whom  the  prisoner  has  no  suspicion, 
but  rather  places  confidence  in  them; 
and  they  shall  go  in  to  her  at  a  suitable 
time  and  speak  to  her  sweetly  of  the 
contempt  of  this  world  and  the  miseries 
of  this  life,  and  of  the  joys  and  glory 
of  Paradise.  And  leading  up  from  this, 
they  shall  indicate  to  her  on  the  part 
of  the  Bishop  or  Judge  that  she  cannot 
escape  temporal  death,  and  that  she 
should  therefore  take  care  for  the  safety 
of  her  soul,  and  prepare  herself  to  con¬ 
fess  her  sins  and  receive  the  Sacrament 
of  the  Eucharist.  And  they  shall  visit 
her  often,  persuading  her  to  penitence 
and  patience,  strengthening  her  as 
much  as  they  can  in  the  Catholic 
truth,  and  they  shall  diligently  cause 
her  to  confess,  so  that  she  may  receive 
the  Sacrament  of  the  Eucharist  at  her 


255 


Part  III.  Question  28.  MALEFI 

humble  petition.  For  these  Sacraments 
are  not  to  be  denied  to  such  offenders. 

And  when  she  has  received  these 
Sacraments,  and  been  well  disposed  by 
these  men  to  salvation;  after  two  or 
three  days  during  which  they  have 
strengthened  her  in  the  Catholic  faith 
and  induced  her  to  repentance,  the 
Bishop  or  Judge  of  that  place  shall 
notify  the  bailiff  of  the  place  or  the 
authorities  of  the  secular  Court,  that 
on  such  a  day  at  such  an  hour  (not 
a  Feast  Day)  he  should  be  with  his 
attendants  in  such  a  square  or  place 
(but  it  must  be  outside  a  church) 
to  receive  from  their  Court  a  certain 
backslider  whom  the  Bishop  and  Judge 
will  hand  over  to  him. 

And  on  the  morning  of  the  day  fixed, 
or  on  the  day  before,  it  shall  be 
publicly  proclaimed  throughout  the 
city  or  place  in  those  towns  and  villages 
where  such  proclamations  are  custom¬ 
ary,  that  on  such  a  day  at  such  an  hour 
in  such  a  place  there  will  be  a  sermon 
preached  in  defence  of  the  Faith,  and 
that  the  Bishop  and  other  Judges  will 
condemn  a  certain  person  who  has 
relapsed  into  the  sin  of  heresy,  deliver¬ 
ing  her  up  to  secular  justice. 

But  here  it  must  be  considered  that, 
if  he  who  has  so  relapsed  should  have 
been  ordained  in  any  Holy  Orders,  or 
should  be  a  priest  or  a  religious  of  any 
Order,  before  he  is  handed  over  he  is 
to  be  degraded  and  stripped  of  the 
privileges  of  his  ecclesiastic  order.  And 
so,  when  he  has  been  degraded  from  all 
ecclesiastical  office,  let  him  be  handed 
over  to  secular  justice  to  receive  his  due 
punishment. 

When,  therefore,  such  a  one  is  to  be 
degraded  from  his  orders  and  handed 
over  to  the  secular  Court,  let  the  Bishop 
summon  together  all  the  prelates  and 
religious  men  of  his  Diocese.  For  in 
this  case,  though  not  in  others,  only 
the  Bishop  together  with  the  other 
prelates  and  religious  and  learned  men 
of  his  Diocese  can  degrade  one  who 
has  received  Holy  Orders  when  he  is 
to  be  delivered  to  the  secular  Court, 
or  is  to  be  imprisoned  for  life  for  the 
sin  of  heresy. 

On  the  day  appointed  for  the  de¬ 
grading  of  the  backslider  and  the  hand¬ 
ing  of  him  over  to  the  secular  Court, 
if  he  be  a  cleric,  or,  if  he  be  a  layman, 
for  leaving  him  to  hear  his  definitive 
sentence,  the  people  shall  gather  to¬ 
gether  in  some  square  or  open  place 


CARUM 

outside  the  church,  and  the  Inquisitor 
shall  preach  a  sermon,  and  the  prisoner 
shall  be  set  on  a  high  place  in  the 
presence  of  the  secular  authorities. 
And  if  the  prisoner  be  a  cleric  who  is 
to  be  degraded,  the  Bishop  shall  don 
his  Pontifical  robes,  together  with  the 
other  prelates  of  his  Diocese  in  their 
vestments  and  copes,  and  the  prisoner 
shall  be  clothed  and  robed  as  if  he 
were  to  minister  his  office;  and  the 
Bishop  shall  degrade  him  from  his 
orders,  beginning  from  the  higher  and 
proceeding  to  the  lowest.  And  just  as 
in  conferring  Holy  Orders  the  Bishop 
uses  the  words  ordained  by  the  Church, 
so  in  degrading  him  he  shall  take  off 
his  chasuble  and  stole,  and  so  with  the 
other  vestments,  using  words  of  a 
directly  opposite  meaning. 

When  this  degradation  has  been 
accomplished,  the  proceedings  must 
continue  in  the  legal  and  accustomed 
manner,  and  the  Notary  or  religious 
or  clerk  shall  be  bidden  to  read  the 
sentence,  which  shall  be  after  the  follow¬ 
ing  manner,  whether  the  prisoner  be  a 
layman  or  a  degraded  cleric  : 

We,  N,  by  the  mercy  of  God  Bishop 
of  such  city,  and  Judge  in  the  terri¬ 
tories  of  such  Prince,  seeing  that  we  are 
legitimately  informed  that  you,  N.,  of 
such  a  place  in  such  a  Diocese,  have 
been  before  us  (or  before  such  Bishop 
and  Judges)  accused  of  such  heresy 
or  heresies  (naming  them),  of  which  you 
were  lawfully  convicted  by  your  own 
confession  and  by  witnesses,  and  that 
you  had  obstinately  persisted  in  them 
for  so  long,  but  afterwards,  listening  to 
better  advice,  publicly  in  such  a  place 
abjured,  renounced  and  revoked  those 
heresies  in  the  form  provided  by  the 
Church,  on  which  account  the  said 
Bishop  and  Inquisitor,  believing  that 
you  had  truly  returned  to  the  bosom  of 
the  Holy  Church  of  God,  did  absolve 
you  from  the  sentence  of  excom¬ 
munication  by  which  you  were  bound, 
enjoining  upon  you  a  salutary  pen¬ 
ance  if  with  true  heart  and  faith 
unfeigned  you  had  returned  to  the 
unity  of  the  Holy  Church ;  but  where¬ 
as  after  all  the  aforesaid  and  the 
lapse  of  so  many  years  you  are  again 
accused  before  us  and  have  again 
fallen  into  such  heresies  which  you 
had  abjured  (naming  them),  and 
though  it  was  sore  grief  to  us  to  hear 
such  things  of  you,  yet  we  were  by 
justice  compelled  to  investigate  the 


256 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  28. 


matter,  to  examine  the  witnesses,  and 
to  summon  and  question  you  on  oath, 
proceeding  in  each  and  every  way 
as  we  are  bidden  by  the  canonical 
institutions. 

And  since  we  wished  to  conclude  this 
case  without  any  doubt,  we  convened 
in  solemn  council  learned  men  of  the 
Theological  faculty  and  men  skilled  in 
the  Canon  and  the  Civil  Law,  and  in 
consultation  with  them  maturely  and 
carefully  examined  all  and  singular 
which  had  been  done,  said  and  seen  in 
the  process  and  diligently  discussed 
each  circumstance,  weighing  all  equally 
in  the  balance  as  it  behoved  us ;  and 
we  find  both  by  the  legitimate  evidence 
of  witnesses  and  by  your  own  confession 
received  in  Court  that  you  have  fallen 
into  the  heresies  which  you  had 
abjured.  For  we  find  that  you  have 
said  or  done  such  and  such  (let  all  be 
named),  on  account  of  which,  with  the 
concurrence  of  the  said  learned  men, 
we  have  judged  and  now  judge  that 
you  are  a  backslider,  according  to  the 
canonical  institutions,  to  which  we 
refer  in  grief  and  grieve  to  refer. 

But  since  it  has  come  to  the  know¬ 
ledge  of  Us  and  of  many  honest 
Catholic  men  that,  by  the  inspiration 
of  Divine  grace,  you  have  once  more 
returned  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church 
and  to  the  truth  of  the  faith,  detesting 
the  aforesaid  errors  and  heresies  and 
with  true  orthodoxy  unfeigned  be¬ 
lieving  and  protesting  the  Catholic 
faith,  we  have  admitted  you  to  receive 
the  Church’s  Sacraments  of  Penance 
and  the  Holy  Eucharist  at  your 
humble  request.  But  since  the  Church 
of  God  has  no  more  which  it  can  do  in 
respect  of  you,  seeing  that  it  has  acted 
so  mercifully  towards  you  in  the  manner 
we  have  said,  and  you  have  abused 
that  mercy  by  falling  back  into  the 
heresies  which  you  had  abjured:  there¬ 
fore  We  the  said  Bishop  and  Judges, 
sitting  in  tribunal  as  Judges  judging, 
having  before  us  the  Holy  Gospels 
that  our  judgement  may  proceed  as  from 
the  countenance  of  God  and  our  eyes 
see  with  equity,  and  having  before  our 
eyes  only  God  and  the  irrefragable 
truth  of  the  Holy  Faith  and  the  extirpa¬ 
tion  of  the  plague  of  heresy ;  against  you, 
N.,  in  this  place  on  the  day  and  at  the 
hour  before  assigned  to  you  for  the 
hearing  of  your  definitive  sentence,  we 
pronounce  in  sentence  that  you  have 
truly  fallen  back  into  the  sin  of  heresy, 


although  you  are  penitent ;  and  as  one 
truly  so  relapsed  we  cast  you  forth 
from  this  our  ecclesiastical  Court,  and 
leave  you  to  be  delivered  to  the  secular 
arm.  But  we  earnestly  pray  that  the 
said  secular  Court  may  temper  its 
justice  with  mercy,  that  there  be  no 
bloodshed  or  danger  of  death. 

And  here  the  Bishop  and  his 
assessors  shall  withdraw,  and  the  secular 
Court  shall  perform  its  office. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that,  although  the 
Bishop  and  Inquisitor  ought  to  use  their 
utmost  diligence,  both  by  their  own 
efforts  and  those  of  others,  to  induce 
the  prisoner  to  repent  and  return  to 
the  Catholic  faith;  yet,  after  he  has 
repented  and  it  has  been  decided  in 
council  that,  though  he  is  penitent,  he 
is  nevertheless  truly  a  backslider  and  as 
such  to  be  handed  over  in  person  to 
the  secular  Court,  they  ought  not  to 
inform  him  of  such  sentence  and 
punishment.  For  the  face  of  his  Judge 
terrifies  the  prisoner,  and  his  words  are 
more  likely  to  cause  one  who  is  to  be 
punished  to  be  impenitent  than  peni¬ 
tent.  Therefore  from  that  time,  neither 
before  nor  after  the  sentence  should 
they  present  themselves  before  him, 
that  he  be  not  moved  in  his  spirit 
against  them,  a  thing  which  is  very 
carefully  to  be  avoided  in  death  of  this 
sort.  But,  as  we  have  said,  let  them 
send  to  him  some  honest  men,  especially 
those  in  religious  orders,  or  clerics,  in 
whom  he  has  confidence ;  and  let 
them  inform  him  of  the  sentence  to 
come  and  of  his  death,  and  strengthen 
him  in  the  faith,  exhorting  him  to  have 
patience;  and  let  them  visit  him  after 
the  sentence,  and  console  him  and 
pray  with  him,  and  not  leave  him  until 
he  has  rendered  his  spirit  to  his  Creator. 

Let  them,  therefore,  beware  and  be 
on  their  guard  not  to  do  or  say  any¬ 
thing  which  may  enable  the  prisoner 
to  anticipate  his  death,  or  place  them¬ 
selves  in  an  irregular  position.  And, 
as  they  have  burdened  themselves 
with  the  care  of  his  soul,  let  them  then 
share  also  in  his  punishment  and  guilt. 

It  must  also  be  remarked  that  such  a 
sentence  which  delivers  up  a  person  to 
the  secular  Court  ought  not  to  be  pro¬ 
nounced  on  a  Festival  or  Solemn  Day, 
nor  in  a  church,  but  outside  in  some 
open  space.  For  it  is  a  sentence  which 
leads  to  death;  and  it  is  more  decent 
that  it  should  be  delivered  on  an 
ordinary  day  and  outside  the  church; 


Part  III.  Question  29.  MALEFICARUM 


257 


for  a  Feast  Day  and  the  church  are 
dedicated  to  God. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XXIX 

The  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon 
one  who  hath  Confessed  to  Heresy  but 
is  Impenitent ,  although  not  Relapsed. 

THE  tenth  method  of  completing  a 
process  on  behalf  of  the  Faith  by  a 
final  sentence  is  used  when  the  person 
accused  of  heresy,  after  a  careful 
examination  of  the  circumstances  of 
the  process  in  consultation  with  skilled 
lawyers,  is  found  to  have  confessed  his 
heresy  and  to  be  impenitent,  though 
he  has  not  relapsed  into  the  heresy. 
Such  a  case  is  very  rarely  found, 
but  yet  it  has  come  within  the  experi¬ 
ence  of  us  Inquisitors.  In  such  a 
case,  therefore,  the  Bishop  and  Judge 
must  not  be  in  haste  to  sentence  the 
prisoner,  but  must  keep  him  well 
guarded  and  fettered,  and  induce  him 
to  be  converted,  even  to  the  extent  of 
several  months,  showing  him  that,  by 
remaining  impenitent,  he  will  be 
damned  in  body  and  soul. 

But  if  neither  by  comforts  nor  hard¬ 
ships,  nor  by  threatening  nor  persuasion, 
can  he  be  brought  to  renounce  his  errors, 
and  the  appointed  period  of  grace  has 
expired,  let  the  Bishop  and  Judges  pre¬ 
pare  to  deliver  or  abandon  him  to  the 
secular  Court ;  and  they  shall  give 
notice  to  the  herald  or  bailiff  or  secular 
authorities  that  on  such  a  day,  not  a 
Feast,  and  at  such  an  hour  they  should 
be  in  such  a  place  with  their  attendants 
outside  a  church,  and  that  they  will 
deliver  to  them  a  certain  impenitent 
heretic.  None  the  less  they  shall 
themselves  make  public  proclamation 
in  the  customary  places  that  on  such  a 
day  at  such  a  time  in  the  aforesaid 
place  a  sermon  will  be  preached  in 
defence  of  the  faith,  and  that  they  will 
hand  over  a  certain  heretic  to  secular 
justice;  and  that  all  should  come  and 
be  present,  being  granted  the  custom¬ 
ary  Indulgences. 

After  this,  the  prisoner  shall  be 
delivered  to  the  secular  Court  in  the 
following  manner.  But  let  him  first 
be  often  admonished  to  renounce  his 
heresy  and  repent ;  but  if  he  altogether 
refuses,  let  the  sentence  be  pronounced. 
We,  N.,  by  the  mercy  of  God  Bishop 


of  such  city,  or  Judge  in  the  territories 
of  such  Prince,  seeing  that  you,  N.,  of 
such  a  place  in  such  a  Diocese,  have 
been  accused  before  us  by  public 
report  and  the  information  of  credible 
persons  (naming  them)  of  heresy, 
and  that  you  have  for  many  years 
persisted  in  those  heresies  to  the 

great  hurt  of  your  immortal  soul ;  and 
since  we,  whose  duty  it  is  to  exter¬ 
minate  the  plague  of  heresy,  wishing 
to  be  more  certainly  informed  of  this 
matter  and  to  see  whether  you  walked 
in  darkness  or  the  light,  have  diligently 
inquired  into  the  said  accusation, 

summoning  and  duly  examining  you, 

we  find  that  vou  are  indeed  infected 

✓ 

with  the  said  hereay. 

But  since  it  is  the  chief  desire  of  our 
hearts  to  plant  the  Holy  Catholic 
Faith  in  the  hearts  of  our  people,  and 
to  eradicate  the  pest  of  heresy,  we  have 
used  diverse  and  various  suitable 

methods,  both  by  ourselves  and  by 

others,  to  persuade  you  to  renounce 
your  said  errors  and  heresies  in  which 
you  had  stood,  were  standing,  and  even 
now  defiantly  and  obstinately  stand 
with  stubborn  heart.  But  since  the 
Enemy  of  the  human  race  is  present 
in  your  heart,  wrapping  you  up  and 
entangling  you  in  the  said  errors,  and 
you  have  refused  and  yet  refuse  to 
abjure  the  said  heresies,  choosing  rather 
the  death  of  your  soul  in  hell  and  of 
your  body  in  this  world  than  to  re¬ 
nounce  the  said  heresies  and  return  to 
the  bosom  of  the  Church  and  cleanse 
your  soul,  and  since  you  are  deter¬ 
mined  to  remain  in  your  sin  : 

Therefore  inasmuch  as  you  are 
bound  by  the  chain  of  excommunica¬ 
tion  from  the  Holy  Church,  and  are 
justly  cut  off  from  the  number  of  the 
Lord’s  flock,  and  are  deprived  of  the 
benefits  of  the  Church,  the  Church 
can  do  no  more  for  you,  having  done 
all  that  was  possible.  We  the  said 
Bishop  and  Judges  on  behalf  of  the 
Faith,  sitting  in  tribunal  as  Judges 
judging,  and  having  before  us  the  Holy 
Gospels  that  our  judgement  may  pro¬ 
ceed  as  from  the  countenance  of  God 
and  our  eyes  see  with  equity,  and  having 
before  our  eyes  only  God  and  the  truth 
of  the  Holy  Faith  and  the  extirpation  of 
the  plague  of  heresy,  on  this  day  and  at 
this  hour  and  place  assigned  to  you  for 
the  hearing  of  your  final  sentence,  we 
give  it  as  our  judgement  and  sentence 
that  you  are  indeed  an  impenitent 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  30. 


258 

heretic,  and  as  truly  such  to  be  de¬ 
livered  and  abandoned  to  the  secular 
Court:  wherefore  by  this  sentence  we 
cast  you  away  as  an  impenitent  heretic 
from  our  ecclesiastical  Court,  and 
deliver  or  abandon  you  to  the  power 
of  the  secular  Court :  praying  the  said 
I  Court  to  moderate  or  temper  its 
sentence  of  death  against  you.  This 
sentence  was  given,  etc. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XXX 

Of  one  who  has  Confessed  to  Heresy , 
is  Relapsed ,  and  is  also  Impenitent. 

THE  eleventh  method  of  concluding 
and  terminating  a  process  on  behalf 
of  the  Faith  is  used  when  the  person 
accused  of  heresy,  after  a  diligent 
discussion  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
process  in  consultation  with  learned 
men,  is  found  to  have  confessed  her 
heresy,  and  to  be  impenitent,  and  To 
have  relapsed  into  it.  And  this  is 
when  the  accused  confesses  with  her 
own  mouth  in  Court  that  she  believes 
and  has  practised  such  and  such.  The 
procedure  in  such  a  case  is  the  same  as 
that  above ;  and  because  she  is  mani¬ 
festly  a  heretic,  sentence  shall  be 
pronounced  in  the  following  manner 
in  the  presence  of  the  Bishop  and 
Judges : 

We  N.,  by  the  mercy  of  God  Bishop 
of  such  city,  or  Judge  in  the  terri¬ 
tories  of  such  Prince,  seeing  that  you 
N.,  of  such  a  place  in  such  a 
Diocese,  were  formerly  accused  before 
us  (or  before  such  and  such,  our  pre¬ 
decessors)  of  the  crime  of  heresy  (nam¬ 
ing  them),  and  that  you  were  legally 
convicted  of  that  crime  by  your  own 
confession  and  the  testimony  of  worthy 
men,  and  that  you  obstinately  per¬ 
sisted  in  it  for  so  many  years ;  but  that 
afterwards,  having  listened  to  better 
advice,  you  publicly  abjured  those 
heresies  in  such  a  place  and  in  the 
form  required  by  the  Church,  on 
which  account  the  aforesaid  Bishop  and 
Judge,  believing  that  you  had  truly 
renounced  the  said  errors  and  had 
returned  with  Catholic  faith  to  the 
bosom  of  the  Church,  granted  you  the 
benefit  of  absolution,  releasing  you 
from  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
by  which  you  were  formerly  bound, 
and,  setting  you  a  salutary  penance  if 


with  true  heart  and  faith  unfeigned 
you  remained  converted  to  the  unity 
of  the  Holy  Church,  received  you  back 
in  mercy.  For  the  Holy  Church  of  God 
is  not  closed  to  such  as  return  to  her 
bosom. 

But  after  all  the  aforesaid  you  have 
to  our  great  grief  been  accused  before 
us  of  having  again  fallen  into  those 
damnable  heresies  which  you  formerly 
abjured  in  public ;  yea,  you  have  done 
so  and  so  (naming  them)  in  contraven¬ 
tion  of  the  said  abjuration  and  to  the 
damage  of  your  soul ;  and  although  we 
are  sore  wounded  and  cut  to  the  heart 
to  have  heard  such  things  of  you,  yet 
we  were  in  justice  compelled  to  inquire 
into  the  matter,  to  examine  the  wit¬ 
nesses,  and  to  summon  and  question 
you  on  oath  as  it  behoved  us,  and  in 
every  particular  to  proceed  as  we  are 
bidden  by  the  canonical  institutions. 
And  as  we  wished  to  conclude  this 
case  beyond  any  doubt,  we  summoned  a 
solemn  council  of  men  learned  in  the 
Theological  faculty  and  of  those  skilled 
in  the  Canon  and  Civil  Laws. 

And  having  obtained  the  mature  and 
considered  judgement  of  the  said 
learned  men  upon  every  single  parti¬ 
cular  which  had  been  brought  to 
notice  and  done  in  this  case,  after 
repeated  examination  of  the  whole 
process  and  careful  and  diligent  dis¬ 
cussion  of  every  circumstance,  as  law 
and  justice  demanded,  we  find  that 
you  are  legally  convicted  both  by  the 
evidence  of  credible  witnesses  and  by 
your  own  repeated  confession,  that  you 
have  fallen,  and  fallen  again,  into  the 
heresies  which  you  abjured.  For  we 
find  that  you  have  said  or  done  such 
and  such  (naming  them),  wherefore 
we  have  reason,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
said  learned  men,  and  compelled 
thereto  by  your  own  excesses,  to  judge 
you  as  a  backslider  according  to  the 
canonical  decrees.  And  that  we  say 
this  with  grief,  and  grieve  to  say  it,  He 
knows  from  Whom  nothing  is  hid  and 
Who  seeth  into  the  secrets  of  all  hearts. 
And  with  all  our  hearts  we  desired  and 
still  desire  to  lead  you  back  to  the 
unity  of  Holy  Church  and  to  drive  out 
from  your  heart  the  said  foul  heresy, 
that  so  you  may  save  your  soul  and 
preserve  your  body  and  soul  from 
destruction  in  hell,  and  we  have 
exerted  our  utmost  endeavour  by 
various  fitting  methods  to  convert  you 
to  salvation;  but  you  have  been  given 


259 


Part  III.  Question  31.  MALEFICARUM 


up  to  your  sin  and  led  away  and 
seduced  by  an  evil  spirit,  and  have 
chosen  to  be  tortured  with  fearful  and 
eternal  torment  in  hell,  and  that  your 
temporal  body  should  here  be  con¬ 
sumed  in  the  flames,  rather  than  to  give 
ear  to  better  counsels  and  renounce 
your  damnable  and  pestilent  errors, 
and  to  return  to  the  merciful  bosom  of 
our  Holy  Mother  Church. 

Wherefore  since  the  Church  of  God 
can  do  nothing  more  for  you,  having 
done  all  that  was  possible  to  convert 
you :  We  the  Bishop  and  Judges  named 
in  this  cause  on  behalf  of  the  faith, 
sitting  in  tribunal  as  Judges  judging, 
having  before  us  the  Holy  Gospels  that 
our  judgement  may  proceed  as  from 
the  countenance  of  God  and  our  eyes 
see  with  equity,  and  having  before  our 
eyes  only  God  and  the  honour  of  the 
Holy  Catholic  Faith,  on  this  day  at 
this  hour  and  place  before  assigned  to 
you  for  the  hearing  of  your  final 
sentence,  we  pronounce  judgement 
upon  you  N.,  here  present  before  us, 
and  condemn  and  sentence  you  as  a 
truly  impenitent  and  relapsed  heretic, 
and  as  such  to  be  delivered  or  aban¬ 
doned  to  secular  justice;  and  by  this 
our  definitive  sentence  we  cast  you 
out  as  a  truly  impenitent  and  relapsed 
heretic  from  our  ecclesiastical  Court, 
and  deliver  and  abandon  you  to  the 
power  of  the  secular  Court;  praying 
that  the  said  secular  Court  will  temper 
or  moderate  its  sentence  of  death 
against  you.  This  sentence  was  given, 
etc. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XXXI 

Of  one  Taken  and  Convicted ,  but  Denying 
Everything. 

THE  twelfth  method  of  finishing  and 
concluding  a  process  on  behalf  of 
the  faith  is  used  when  the  person 
accused  of  heresy,  after  a  diligent 
examination  of  the  merits  of  the  pro¬ 
cess  in  consultation  with  skilled  lawyers, 
is  found  to  be  convicted  of  heresy  by 
the  evidence  of  the  facts  or  by  the 
legitimate  production  of  witnesses,  but 
not  by  his  own  confession.  That  is  to 
say,  he  may  be  convicted  by  the 
evidence  of  the  facts,  in  that  he  has 
publicly  practised  heresy;  or  by  the 
evidence  of  witnesses  against  whom 
he  can  take  no  legitimate  exception; 


et,  though  so  taken  and  convicted, 
e  firmly  and  constantly  denies  the 
charge.  See  Henry  of  Segusio  On  Heresy , 
question  34. 

The  procedure  in  such  a  case  is  as 
follows.  The  accused  must  be  kept  in 
strong  durance  fettered  and  chained, 
and  must  often  be  visited  by  the 
officers,  both  in  a  body  and  severally, 
who  will  use  their  own  best  endeavours 
and  those  of  others  to  induce  him  to 
discover  the  truth;  telling  him  that  if 
he  does  so  and  confesses  his  error,  and 
abjures  that  vile  heresy,  he  will  be 
admitted  to  mercy;  but  that  if  he 
refuses  and  persists  in  his  denial,  he 
will  in  the  end  be  abandoned  to  the 
secular  law,  and  will  not  be  able  to 
escape  temporal  death. 

But  if  he  continues  for  a  long  time  in 
his  denials,  the  Bishop  and  his  officers, 
now  in  a  body  and  now  severally,  now 
personally  and  now  with  the  assistance 
of  other  honest  and  upright  men,  shall 
summon  before  them  now  one  witness, 
now  another,  and  warn  him  to  attend 
strictly  to  what  he  has  deposed,  and  to 
be  sure  whether  or  not  he  has  told  the 
truth;  that  he  should  beware  lest  in 
damning  another  temporally  he  damn 
himself  eternally ;  that  if  he  be  afraid, 
let  him  at  least  tell  them  the  truth  in 
secret,  that  the  accused  should  not  die 
unjustly.  And  let  them  be  careful 
to  talk  to  him  in  such  a  way  that  they 
may  see  clearly  whether  or  not  his 
depositions  have  been  true. 

But  if  the  witnesses,  after  this  warn¬ 
ing,  adhere  to  their  statements,  and  the 
accused  maintains  his  denials,  let  not 
the  Bishop  and  his  officers  on  that 
account  be  in  any  haste  to  pronounce 
a  definitive  sentence  and  hand  the 
prisoner  over  to  secular  law;  but  let 
them  detain  him  still  longer,  now 
persuading  him  to  confess,  now  yet 
again  urging  the  witnesses  (but  one  at 
a  time)  to  examine  their  consciences 
well.  And  let  the  Bishop  and  his 
officers  pay  particular  attention  to  that 
witness  who  seems  to  be  of  the  best 
conscience  and  the  most  disposed  to 
good,  and  let  them  more  insistently 
charge  him  on  his  conscience  to  speak 
the  truth  whether  or  not  the  matter 
was  as  he  had  deposed.  And  if  they 
see  any  witness  vacillate,  or  there  are 
any  other  indications  that  he  has  given 
false  evidence,  let  them  attest  him 
according  to  the  counsel  of  learned  men, 
and  proceed  as  justice  shall  require. 


26o 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  31. 


For  it  is  very  often  found  that  after 
a  person  so  convicted  by  credible 
witnesses  has  long  persisted  in  his 
denials,  he  has  at  length  relented, 
especially  on  being  truly  informed  that 
he  will  not  be  delivered  to  the  secular 
Court,  but  be  admitted  to  mercy  if  he 
confesses  his  sin,  and  he  has  then  freely 
confessed  the  truth  which  he  had  so 
long  denied.  And  it  is  often  found  that 
the  witnesses,  actuated  by  malice  and 
overcome  by  enmity,  have  conspired 
together  to  accuse  an  innocent  person 
of  the  sin  of  heresy ;  but  afterwards,  at 
the  frequent  entreaty  of  the  Bishop  and 
his  officers,  their  consciences  have  been 
stricken  with  remorse  and,  by  Divine 
inspiration,  they  have  revoked  their 
evidence  and  confessed  that  they  have 
out  of  malice  put  that  crime  upon  the 
accused.  Therefore  the  prisoner  in 
such  a  case  is  not  to  be  sentenced 
hastily,  but  must  be  kept  for  a  year  or 
more  before  he  is  delivered  up  to  the 
secular  Court. 

When  a  sufficient  time  has  elapsed, 
and  after  all  possible  care  has  been 
taken,  if  the  accused  who  has  been  thus 
legally  convicted  has  acknowledged  his 
guilt  and  confessed  in  legal  form  that 
he  hath  been  for  the  period  stated 
ensnared  in  the  crime  of  heresy,  and 
has  consented  to  abjure  that  and  every 
heresy,  and  to  perform  such  satisfac¬ 
tion  as  shall  seem  proper  to  the  Bishop 
and  Inquisitor  for  one  convicted  of 
heresy  both  by  his  own  confession  and 
the  legitimate  production  of  witnesses ; 
then  let  him  as  a  penitent  heretic 
publicly  abjure  all  heresy,  in  the  man¬ 
ner  which  we  have  set  down  in  the 
eighth  method  of  concluding  a  process 
on  behalf  of  the  faith. 

But  if  he  has  confessed  that  he  hath 
fallen  into  such  heresy,  but  neverthe¬ 
less  obstinately  adheres  to  it,  he  must 
be  delivered  to  the  secular  Court  as  an 
impenitent,  after  the  manner  of  the 
tenth  method  which  we  have  explained 
above. 

But  if  the  accused  has  remained 
firm  and  unmoved  in  his  denial  of  the 
charges  against  him,  but  the  witnesses 
have  withdrawn  their  charges,  revoking 
their  evidence  and  acknowledging 
their  guilt,  confessing  that  they  had  put 
so  great  a  crime  upon  an  innocent 
man  from  motives  of  rancour  and 
hatred,  or  had  been  suborned  or 
bribed  thereto;  then  the  accused  shall 
be  freely  discharged,  but  they  shall  be 


punished  as  false  witnesses,  accusers  or 
informers.  This  is  made  clear  by  Paul 
of  Burgos  in  his  comment  on  the  Canon 
c.  multorum .  And  sentence  or  penance 
shall  be  pronounced  against  them  as 
shall  seem  proper  to  the  Bishop  and 
Judges;  but  in  any  case  such  false 
witnesses  must  be  condemned  to  per¬ 
petual  imprisonment  on  a  diet  of  bread 
and  water,  and  to  do  penance  for  all  the 
days  of  their  life,  being  made  to  stand 
upon  the  steps  before  the  church  door, 
etc.  However,  the  Bishops  have  power 
to  mitigate  or  even  to  increase  the 
sentence  after  a  year  or  some  other 
period,  in  the  usual  manner. 

But  if  the  accused,  after  a  year  or 
other  longer  period  which  has  been 
deemed  sufficient,  continues  to  main¬ 
tain  his  denials,  and  the  legitimate 
witnesses  abide  by  their  evidence,  the 
Bishop  and  Judges  shall  prepare  to 
abandon  him  to  the  secular  Court; 
sending  to  him  certain  honest  men 
zealous  for  the  faith,  especially  re¬ 
ligious,  to  tell  him  that  he  cannot  escape 
temporal  death  while  he  thus  persists 
in  his  denial,  but  will  be  delivered  up  as 
an  impenitent  heretic  to  the  power  of  the 
secular  Court.  And  the  Bishop  and  his 
officers  shall  give  notice  to  the  Bailiff 
or  authority  of  the  secular  Court  that 
on  such  a  day  at  such  an  hour  and  in  such 
a  place  (not  inside  a  church)  he  should 
come  with  his  attendants  to  receive 
an  impenitent  heretic  whom  they  will 
deliver  to  him.  And  let  him  make 
public  proclamation  in  the  usual  places 
that  all  should  be  present  on  such  a 
day  at  such  an  hour  and  place  to  hear 
a  sermon  preached  on  behalf  of  the 
faith,  and  that  the  Bishop  and  his 
officer  will  hand  over  a  certain 
obstinate  heretic  to  the  secular  Court. 

On  the  appointed  day  for  the  pro¬ 
nouncement  of  sentence  the  Bishop  and 
his  officer  shall  be  in  the  place  afore¬ 
said,  and  the  prisoner  shall  be  placed 
on  high  before  the  assembled  clergy  and 
people  so  that  he  may  be  seen  by  all, 
and  the  secular  authorities  shall  be 
present  before  the  prisoner.  Then 
sentence  shall  be  pronounced  in  the 
following  manner : 

We,  N.,  by  the  mercy  of  God  Bishop 
of  such  city,  or  Judge  in  the  territories 
of  such  Prince,  seeing  that  you,  N.,  of 
such  a  place  in  such  a  Diocese,  have 
been  accused  before  us  of  such  heresy 
(naming  it) ;  and  wishing  to  be  more 
certainly  informed  whether  the  charges 


26i 


Part  III.  Question  32.  MALEFICARUM 


made  against  you  were  true,  and 
whether  you  walked  in  darkness  or  in 
the  light ;  we  proceeded  to  inform  our¬ 
selves  by  diligently  examining  the 
witnesses,  by  often  summoning  and 
questioning  you  on  oath,  and  admitting 
an  Advocate  to  plead  in  your  defence, 
and  by  proceeding  in  every  way  as  we 
were  bound  by  the  canonical  decrees. 

And  wishing  to  conclude  your  trial 
in  a  manner  beyond  all  doubt,  we 
convened  in  solemn  council  men  learned 
in  the  Theological  faculty  and  in  the 
Canon  and  Civil  Laws.  And  having 
diligently  examined  and  discussed  each 
circumstance  of  the  process  and 
maturely  and  carefully  considered  with 
the  said  learned  men  everything  which 
has  been  said  and  done  in  this  present 
case,  we  find  that  you,  N.,  have  been 
legally  convicted  of  having  been  in¬ 
fected  with  the  sin  of  heresy  for  so  long 
a  time,  and  that  you  have  said  and 
done  such  and  such  (naming  them)  on 
account  of  which  it  manifestly  appears 
that  you  are  legitimately  convicted  of 
the  said  heresy. 

But  since  we  desired,  and  still  desire, 
that  you  should  confess  the  truth  and 
renounce  the  said  heresy,  and  be  led 
back  to  the  bosom  of  Holy  Church  and 
to  the  unity  of  the  Holy  Faith,  that  so 
you  should  save  your  soul  and  escape 
the  destruction  of  both  your  body  and 
soul  in  hell ;  we  have  by  our  own  efforts 
and  those  of  others,  and  by  delaying 
your  sentence  for  a  long  time,  tried  to 
induce  you  to  repent;  but  you  being 
obstinately  given  over  to  wickedness 
have 'scorned  to  agree  to  our  whole¬ 
some  advice,  and  have  persisted  and  do 
persist  with  stubborn  and  defiant 
mind  in  your  contumacious  and  dogged 
denials;  and  this  we  say  with  grief, 
and  grieve  and  mourn  in  saying  it. 
But  since  the  Church  of  God  has  waited 
so  long  for  you  to  repent  and  acknow¬ 
ledge  your  guilt,  and  you  have  refused 
and  still  refuse,  her  grace  and  mercy 
can  go  no  farther. 

Wherefore  that  you  may  be  an 
example  to  others  and  that  they  may 
be  kept  from  all  such  heresies,  and  that 
such  crimes  may  not  remain  un¬ 
punished  :  We  the  Bishop  and  Judges 
named  on  behalf  of  the  faith,  sitting 
in  tribunal  as  Judges  judging,  and 
having  before  us  the  Holy  Gospels  that 
our  judgement  may  proceed  as  from 
the  countenance  of  God  and  our  eyes 
see  with  equity,  and  having  before  our 


eyes  only  God  and  the  glory  and 
honour  of  the  Holy  Faith,  we  judge, 
declare  and  pronounce  sentence  that 
you  standing  here  in  our  presence  on 
this  day  at  the  hour  and  place  ap¬ 
pointed  for  the  hearing  of  your  final 
sentence,  are  an  impenitent  heretic, 
and  as  such  to  be  delivered  or 
abandoned  to  secular  justice;  and  as 
an  obstinate  and  impenitent  heretic 
we  have  by  this  sentence  cast  you  off 
from  the  ecclesiastical  Court  and  deliver 
and  abandon  you  to  secular  justice 
and  the  power  of  the  secular  Court. 
And  we  pray  that  the  said  secular 
Court  may  moderate  its  sentence  of 
death  upon  you.  This  sentence  was 
given,  etc. 

The  Bishop  and  Judges  may,  more¬ 
over,  arrange  that  just  men  zealous  for 
the  faith,  known  to  and  in  the  con¬ 
fidence  of  the  secular  Court,  shall  have 
access  to  the  prisoner  while  the  secular 
Court  is  performing  its  office,  in  order 
to  console  him  and  even  yet  induce 
him  to  confess  the  truth,  acknowledge 
his  guilt,  and  renounce  his  errors. 

But  if  it  should  happen  that  after  the 
sentence,  and  when  the  prisoner  is 
already  at  the  place  where  he  is  to  be 
burned,  he  should  say  that  he  wishes 
to  confess  the  truth  and  acknowledge 
his  guilt,  and  does  so ;  and  if  he  should 
be  willing  to  abjure  that  and  every 
heresy;  although  it  may  be  presumed 
that  he  does  this  rather  from  fear  of 
death  than  for  love  of  the  truth,  yet 
I  should  be  of  the  opinion  that  he  may 
in  mercy  be  received  as  a  penitent 
heretic  and  be  imprisoned  for  life. 
See  the  gloss  on  the  chapters  ad 
abolendam  and  excommunicamus.  Never¬ 
theless,  according  to  the  rigour  of  the 
law,  the  Judges  ought  not  to  place 
much  faith  in  a  conversion  of  this  sort ; 
and  furthermore,  they  can  always 
punish  him  on  account  of  the  temporal 
injuries  which  he  has  committed. 

☆ 

QUESTION  XXXII 

Of  one  who  is  Convicted  but  who  hath  Fled 
or  who  Contumaciously  Absents  himself. 

THE  thirteenth  and  last  method  of 
arriving  at  a  definite  sentence  in 
a  process  on  behalf  of  the  Faith  is  used 
when  the  person  accused  of  heresy, 
after  a  diligent  discussion  of  the  merits 


262 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  32. 


of  the  process  in  consultation  with 
learned  lawyers,  is  found  to  be  con¬ 
victed  of  heresy,  but  has  made  his 
escape,  or  defiantly  absents  himself 
after  the  expiration  of  a  set  time.  And 
this  happens  in  three  cases. 

First,  when  the  accused  is  convicted 
of  heresy  by  his  own  confession,  or  by 
the  evidence  of  the  facts,  or  by  the 
legitimate  production  of  witnesses,  but 
has  fled,  or  has  absented  himself  and 
refused  to  appear  after  being  legally 
summoned. 

Secondly,  when  a  person  has  been 
accused  and  certain  information  has 
been  laid  against  him  on  account  of 
which  he  rests  under  some  suspicion, 
even  if  it  be  only  a  light  one,  and  he  has 
been  summoned  to  answer  for  his 
faith;  and  because  he  has  defiantly 
refused  to  appear,  he  is  excommunic¬ 
ated,  and  has  stubbornly  remained  in 
that  excommunication  for  a  year,  and 
always  defiantly  absents  himself. 

The  third  case  is  when  someone 
directly  obstructs  the  Bishop’s  or  Judges’ 
sentence  or  process  on  behalf  of  the 
Faith,  or  lends  his  help,  advice  or 
protection  for  that  purpose,  and  such 
a  person  has  been  stricken  with  the 
sword  of  excommunication.  And  if 
he  has  obstinately  endured  that  ex- 
communication  for  a  year,  he  is  then 
to  be  condemned  as  a  heretic  who  has 
defied  the  administration  of  justice. 

In  the  first  case,  such  a  person  is, 
according  to  the  Canon  ad  abolendam , 
to  be  condemned  as  an  impenitent 
heretic.  In  the  second  and  third  cases 
he  is  not  to  be  judged  as  an  impenitent 
heretic,  but  to  be  condemned  as  if  he 
were  a  penitent  heretic.  And  in  any 
of  these  cases  the  following  procedure 
should  be  observed.  When  such  a 
person  has  been  awaited  for  a  sufficient 
time,  let  him  be  summoned  by  the 
Bishop  and  his  officer  in  the  Cathedral 
Church  of  that  Diocese  in  which  he 
has  sinned,  and  in  the  other  churches 
of  that  place  where  he  had  his  dwelling, 
and  especially  from  where  he  has  fled ; 
and  let  him  be  summoned  in  the 
following  manner : 

We,  N.,  by  the  mercy  of  God  Bishop 
of  such  city,  etc.,  or  Judge  of  such 
Diocese,  having  in  our  charge  the 
welfare  of  souls,  and  having  above  all 
the  desires  of  our  heart  this  most 
earnest  desire  that  in  our  time  in  the 
said  Diocese  the  Church  should  flourish 
and  that  there  should  be  a  fruitful 


and  abundant  harvest  in  that  vineyard 
of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  which  the  right 
hand  of  the  Most  High  Father  has 
planted  in  the  bosom  of  the  righteous, 
which  the  Son  of  that  Father  has 
plentifully  watered  with  His  own  life- 
giving  Blood,  which  the  reviving  Spirit 
the  Paraclete  has  made  fruitful  within 
by  His  wonderful  and  ineffable  gifts, 
which  the  whole  incomprehensible  and 
ineffable  Blessed  Trinity  has  endowed 
and  enriched  with  many  very  great  and 
holy  privileges ;  but  the  wild  boar  out 
of  the  forest,  by  which  is  meant  any 
sort  of  heretic,  has  devoured  and 
despoiled  it,  laying  waste  the  fair  fruit 
of  the  faith  and  planting  thorny  briars 
among  the  vines;  and  that  tortuous 
serpent,  the  evil  enemy  of  our  human 
race,  who  is  Satan  and  the  devil,  has 
breathed  out  venom  and  poisoned  the 
fruit  of  the  vineyard  with  the  plague 
of  heresy :  And  this  is  the  field  of  the 
Lord,  the  Catholic  Church,  to  till  and 
cultivate  which  the  only  first-born  Son 
of  God  the  Father  descended  from  the 
heights  of  Heaven,  and  sowed  it  with 
miracles  and  Holy  discourse,  going 
through  towns  and  villages  and  teach¬ 
ing  not  without  great  labour ;  and  He 
chose  as  His  Apostles  honest  labouring 
men,  and  showed  them  the  way, 
endowing  them  with  eternal  rewards; 
and  the  Son  of  God  Himself  expects  to 
gather  from  that  field  on  the  Day  of 
the  Last  Judgement  a  plentiful  harvest, 
and  by  the  hands  of  His  Holy  Angels  to 
store  it  in  His  Holy  barn  in  Heaven: 
But  the  foxes  of  Samson,*  two-faced 
like  them  who  have  fallen  into  the  sin 
of  heresy,  having  their  faces  looking 
both  ways  but  tied  together  by  their 
burning  tails,  run  about  with  many 
torches  amidst  the  fields  of  the  Lord 
now  white  unto  harvest  and  shining 
with  the  splendour  of  the  faith,  and 
bitterly  despoil  them,  speeding  most 
cunningly  here  and  there,  and  with 
their  strong  attacks  burning,  dissipat¬ 
ing,  and  devastating,  and  subtly  and 
damnably  subverting  the  truth  of  the 
Holy  Catholic  Faith. 

Wherefore,  since  you,  N.,  are  fallen 
into  the  damned  heresies  of  witches, 
practising  them  publicly  in  such  place 
(naming  it),  and  have  been  by  legiti¬ 
mate  witnesses  convicted  of  the  sin  of 
heresy,  or  by  your  own  confession 
received  by  us  in  Court;  and  after 

*  “Samson”  “Judges”  xv,  1-6. 


263 


Part  III.  Question  32.  MALEFICARUM 


your  capture  you  have  escaped,  refusing 
the  medicine  of  your  salvation  :  there¬ 
fore  we  have  summoned  you  to  answer 
for  the  said  crimes  in  person  before  us, 
but  you,  led  away  and  seduced  by  a 
wicked  spirit,  have  refused  to  appear. 

Or  as  follows : 

Wherefore,  since  you,  N.,  have  been 
accused  before  us  of  the  sin  of  heresy, 
and  from  information  received  against 
you  we  have  judged  that  you  are  under 
a  light  suspicion  of  that  sin,  we  have 
summoned  you  to  appear  personally 
before  us  to  answer  for  the  Catholic 
faith.  And  since,  having  been  sum¬ 
moned,  you  have  defiantly  refused  to 
appear,  we  excommunicated  you  and 
caused  you  to  be  proclaimed  excom¬ 
municate.  And  in  this  state  you  have 
remained  stubborn  for  a  year,  or  so 
many  years,  hiding  here  and  there,  so 
that  even  now  we  do  not  know 
whither  the  evil  spirit  has  led  you ;  and 
though  we  awaited  you  kindly  and 
mercifully,  that  you  might  return  to 
the  bosom  and  the  unity  of  the  Holy 
Faith,  you  being  wholly  given  up  to 
evil  have  scorned  to  do  so.  Yet  we 
wish  and  are  bound  by  justice  to  con¬ 
clude  this  case  beyond  any  question, 
nor  can  we  pass  over  with  connivent 
eyes  your  iniquitous  crimes. 

We  the  Bishop  and  Judges  in  the 
said  cause  on  behalf  of  the  faith  require 
and  strictly  command  by  this  our 
present  public  edict  that  you  the 
aforesaid,  at  present  in  hiding  and  a 
runaway  and  fugitive,  shall  on  such  a 
day  of  such  a  month  in  such  a  year,  in 
such  Cathedral  Church  of  such  Diocese, 
at  the  hour  of  Terce  appear  personally 
before  us  to  hear  your  final  sentence: 
signifying  that,  whether  you  appear  or 
not,  we  shall  proceed  to  our  definitive 
sentence  against  you  as  law  and  justice 
shall  require.  And  that  our  summons 
may  come  to  your  knowledge  before¬ 
hand  and  you  may  not  be  able  to  pro¬ 
tect  yourself  with  a  plea  of  ignorance, 
we  wish  and  command  that  our  said 
present  letters,  requisition  and  sum¬ 
mons  be  publicly  affixed  to  the  doors 
of  the  said  Cathedral  Church.  In  wit¬ 
ness  of  all  which  we  have  ordered  these 
our  present  letters  to  be  authorized  by 
the  impressions  of  our  seals.  Given,  etc. 

On  the  appointed  day  assigned  for 
the  hearing  of  the  final  sentence',  if  the 
fugitive  shall  have  appeared  and  con¬ 
sented  to  abjure  publicly  all  heresy, 


humbly  praying  to  be  admitted  to 
mercy,  he  is  to  be  admitted  if  he  has  not 
been  a  backslider ;  and  if  he  was  con¬ 
victed  by  his  own  confession  or  by  the 
legitimate  production  of  witnesses,  he 
shall  abjure  and  repent  as  a  penitent 
heretic,  according  to  the  manner 
explained  in  the  eighth  method  of 
concluding  a  process  on  behalf  of  the 
faith.  If  he  was  gravely  suspected,  and 
refused  to  appear  when  he  was  sum¬ 
moned  to  answer  for  his  faith,  and  was 
therefore  excommunicated  and  had 
endured  that  excommunication  obstin¬ 
ately  for  a  year,  but  becomes  penitent, 
let  him  be  admitted,  and  abjure  all 
heresy,  and  repent  as  t  one  gravely 
suspected  of  heresy,  in  the  manner 
explained  in  the  sixth  method  of  pro¬ 
nouncing  sentence.  But  if  he  shall 
appear,  and  not  consent  to  abjure,  let 
him  be  delivered  as  a  truly  impenitent 
heretic  to  the  secular  Court,  as  was 
explained  in  the  tenth  method.  But  if 
he  still  defiantly  refuses  to  appear,  let 
the  sentence  be  pronounced  in  the 
following  manner : 

We,  N.,  by  the  mercy  of  God  Bishop 
of  such  city,  seeing  that  you,  N.,  of  such 
a  place  in  such  a  Diocese  were  accused 
before  us  by  public  report  and  the 
information  of  worthy  men  of  the  sin  of 
heresy :  We,  whose  duty  it  is,  proceeded 
to  examine  and  inquire  whether  there 
was  any  truth  in  the  report  which  had 
come  to  our  ears.  And  finding  that  you 
were  convicted  of  heresy  by  the  deposi¬ 
tions  of  many  credible  witnesses,  we  com¬ 
manded  that  you  be  brought  before  us 
in  custody.  (Here  let  it  be  said  whether 
he  had  appeared  and  been  questioned 
under  oath  or  not.)  But  afterwards, 
led  away  and  seduced  by  the  advice  of 
the  evil  spirit,  and  fearing  to  have  your 
wounds  wholesomely  healed  with  wine 
and  oil,  you  fled  away  (or,  if  it  was  the 
case,  You  broke  from  your  prison  and 
lace  of  detention  and  fled  away), 
iding  here  and  there,  and  we  are 
altogether  ignorant  of  whither  the  said 
evil  spirit  has  led  you. 

Or  after  this  manner : 

And  finding  that  against  you,  accused 
as  aforesaid  before  us  of  the  sin  of 
heresy,  there  were  many  indications  by 
reason  of  which  we  judged  you  to  be 
lightly  suspected  of  the  said  heresy,  we 
summoned  you  by  public  edict  in  such 
and  such  churches  of  such  Diocese 
within  a  certain  time  assigned  to  appear 


264 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  33. 


in  person  before  us  to  answer  to  the 
said  charges  against  you  and  otherwise 
on  matters  concerning  the  Faith.  But 
you,  following  some  mad  advice, 
obstinately  refused  to  appear.  And 
when,  as  in  justice  bound,  we  excom¬ 
municated  you  and  caused  you  to  be 
publicly  proclaimed  as  excommunicate, 
you  stubbornly  remained  in  that  ex- 
communication  for  more  than  a  year, 
and  kept  hidden  here  and  there,  so  that 
we  do  not  know  whither  the  evil  spirit 
has  led  you. 

And  whereas  the  Holy  Church  of  God 
has  long  awaited  you  up  to  this  present 
day  in  kindness  and  mercy,  that  you 
might  fly  to  Jhe  bosom  of  her  mercy, 
renouncing  your  errors  and  professing 
the  Catholic  Faith,  and  be  nourished  by 
the  bounty  of  her  mercy ;  but  you  have 
refused  to  consent,  persisting  in  your 
obstinacy ;  and  since  we  wished  and  still 
wish,  as  we  ought  to  do  and  as  justice 
compels  us,  to  bring  your  case  to  an  equit¬ 
able  conclusion,  we  have  summoned 
you  to  appear  in  person  before  us  on 
this  day  at  this  hour  and  place,  to  hear 
your  final  sentence.  And  since  you  have 
stubbornly  refused  to  appear,  you  are 
manifestly  proved  to  abide  permanently 
in  your  errors  and  heresies ;  and  this  we 
say  with  grief,  and  grieve  in  saying  it. 

But  since  we  cannot  and  will  not 
delay  to  do  justice,  nor  may  we 
tolerate  so  great  disobedience  and 
defiance  of  the  Church  of  God ;  for  the 
exaltation  of  the  Catholic  F aith  and  the 
extirpation  of  vile  heresy,  at  the  call  of 
justice,  and  by  reason  of  your  dis¬ 
obedience  and  obstinacy,  on  this  day 
and  at  the  hour  and  place  heretofore 
strictly  and  precisely  assigned  to  you  for 
the  hearing  of  your  final  sentence, 
having  diligently  and  carefully  dis¬ 
cussed  each  several  circumstance  of 
the  process  with  men  learned  in  the 
Theological  faculty  and  in  the  Canon 
and  Civil  Laws,  sitting  in  tribunal  as 
Judges  judging,  having  before  us  the 
Holy  Gospels  that  our  judgement  may 
proceed  as  from  the  countenance  of 
God  and  our  eyes  see  with  equity,  and 
having  before  our  eyes  only  God  and 
the  irrefragable  truth  of  the  Holy  Faith, 
and  following  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
Blessed  Apostle  Paul,  in  these  writings 
we  pronounce  final  sentence  against 
you,  N.,  absent  or  present,  as  follows, 
invoking  the  Name  of  Christ. 

We  the  Bishop  and  Judges  named  on 
behalf  of  the  Faith,  whereas  the  process 


of  this  cause  on  behalf  of  the  Faith  has 
in  all  things  been  conducted  as  the  laws 
require ;  and  whereas  you,  having  been 
legally  summoned,  have  not  appeared, 
and  have  not  by  yourself  or  any  other 
person  excused  yourself;  and  whereas 
you  have  for  a  long  time  persisted  and 
still  obstinately  persist  in  the  said 
heresies,  and  have  endured  excom¬ 
munication  in  the  cause  of  the  Faith  for 
so  many  years,  and  still  stubbornly 
endure  it ;  and  whereas  the  Holy 
Church  of  God  can  do  no  more  for 
you,  since  you  have  persisted  and 
intend  to  persist  in  your  excom¬ 
munication  and  said  heresies:  There¬ 
fore,  following  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
Blessed  Apostle  Paul,  we  declare,  judge 
and  sentence  you,  absent  or  present, 
to  be  a  stubborn  heretic,  and  as  such  to 
be  abandoned  to  secular  justice.  And 
by  this  our  definitive  sentence  we  drive 
you  from  the  ecclesiastical  Court,  and 
abandon  you  to  the  power  of  the 
secular  Court;  earnestly  praying  the 
said  Court  that,  if  ever  it  should  have 
you  in  its  power,  it  will  moderate  its 
sentence  of  death  against  you.  This 
sentence  was  given,  etc. 

Here  it  is  to  be  considered  that,  if 
that  stubborn  fugitive  had  been  con¬ 
victed  of  heresy,  either  by  his  own  con¬ 
fession  or  by  credible  witnesses,  and 
had  fled  before  his  abjuration,  he  is  by 
the  sentence  to  be  judged  an  impenitent 
heretic,  and  so  it  must  be  expressed  in 
the  sentence.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  had  not  been  convicted,  but  had 
been  summoned  as  one  under  suspicion 
to  answer  for  his  faith ;  and,  because  he 
has  refused  to  appear,  has  been  excom¬ 
municated,  and  has  obstinately  endured 
that  excommunication  for  more  than 
a  year,  and  has  finally  refused  to  appear ; 
then  he  is  not  to  be  judged  a  heretic, 
but  as  a  heretic,  and  must  be  con¬ 
demned  as  such;  and  so  it  must  be 
expressed  in  the  sentence,  as  it  is  said 
above. 


QUESTION  XXXIII 

Of  the  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon  one 
who  has  been  Accused  by  another 
Witch ,  who  has  been  or  is  to  be  Burned 
at  the  Stake. 

THE  fourteenth  method  of  finally 
concluding  a  process  on  behalf  of 
the  Faith  is  used  when  the  person 


Part  III.  Question  33.  MALEFICARUM  265 


accused  of  heresy,  after  a  careful  dis¬ 
cussion  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
process  with  reference  to  the  informant 
in  consultation  with  learned  lawyers, 
is  found  to  be  accused  of  that  heresy 
only  by  another  witch  who  has  been 
or  is  to  be  burned.  And  this  can  happen 
in  thirteen  ways  in  thirteen  cases. 
For  a  person  so  accused  is  either  found 
innocent  and  is  to  be  freely  discharged ; 
or  she  is  found  to  be  generally  defamed 
for  that  heresy;  or  it  is  found  that,  in 
addition  to  her  defamation,  she  is  to  be 
to  some  degree  exposed  to  torture;  or 
she  is  found  to  be  strongly  suspected  of 
heresy;  or  she  is  found  to  be  gravely 
suspected  of  heresy ;  or  she  is  found  to 
be  at  the  same  time  defamed  and  sus¬ 
pected  ;  and  so  on  up  to  thirteen 
different  cases,  as  was  shown  in  the 
Twentieth  Question.  • 

The  first  case  is  when  she  is  accused 
only  by  a  witch  in  custody,  and  is  not 
convicted  either  by  her  own  confession 
or  by  legitimate  witnesses,  and  there 
are  no  other  indications  found  by  reason 
of  which  she  can  truly  be  regarded  as 
suspect.  In  such  a  case  she  is  to  be 
entirely  absolved,  even  by  the  secular 
Judge  himself  who  has  either  burned 
the  deponent  or  is  about  to  burn  her 
either  on  his  own  authority  or  on  that 
commissioned  to  him  by  the  Bishop 
and  Judge  of  the  Ordinary  Court ;  and 
she  shall  be  absolved  in  the  manner 
explained  in  the  Twentieth  Question. 

The  second  case  is  when,  in  addition 
to  being  accused  by  a  witch  in  custody, 
she  is  also  publicly  defamed  throughout 
the  whole  village  or  city;  so  that  she 
has  always  laboured  under  that  parti¬ 
cular  defamation,  but,  after  the  deposi¬ 
tion  of  the  witch,  it  has  become 
aggravated. 

In  such  a  case  the  following  should 
be  the  procedure.  The  Judge  should 
consider  that,  apart  from  the  general 
report,  nothing  particular  has  been 
proved  against  her  by  other  credible 
witnesses  in  the  village  or  town;  and 
although,  perhaps,  that  witch  has 
deposed  some  serious  charges  against 
her,  yet,  since  she  has  lost  her  faith  by 
denying  it  to  the  devil,  Judges  should 
give  no  ready  credence  to  her  words, 
unless  there  should  be  other  circum¬ 
stances  which  aggravate  that  report; 
and  then  the  case  would  fall  under  the 
third  and  following  case.  Therefore  she 
should  be  enjoined  a  canonical  purga¬ 
tion,  and  the  sentence  should  be 


ronounced  as  shown  in  the  Twenty- 
rst  Question. 

And  if  the  civil  Judge  orders  this 
purgation  to  be  made  before  the 
Bishop,  and  ends  with  a  solemn 
declaration  that,  if  she  should  fail, 
then,  as  an  example  to  others,  she 
should  be  more  severely  sentenced  by 
both  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  Judges, 
well  and  good.  But  if  he  wishes  to 
conduct  it  himself,  let  him  command 
her  to  find  ten  or  twenty  compurgators 
of  her  own  class,  and  proceed  in 
accordance  with  the  second  method  of 
sentencing  such :  except  that,  if  she  has 
to  be  excommunicated,  then  he  must 
have  recourse  to.  the  Ordinary;  and 
this  would  be  the  case  if  she  refused  to 
purge  herself. 

The  third  case,  then,  happens  when 
the  person  so  accused  is  not  convicted 
by  her  own  confession,  nor  by  the 
evidence  of  the  facts,  nor  by  credible 
witnesses,  nor  are  there  any  other 
indications  as  to  any  fact  in  which  she 
had  ever  been  marked  by  the  other 
inhabitants  of  that  town  or  village, 
except  her  general  reputation  among 
them.  But  the  general  report  has 
become  intensified  by  the  detention  of 
that  witch  in  custody,  as  that  it  is  said 
that  she  had  been  her  companion  in 
everything  and  had  participated  in  her 
crimes.  But  even  so,  the  accused  firmly 
denies  all  this,  and  nothing  of  it  is 
known  to  other  inhabitants,  or  of 
anything  save  good  behaviour  on  her 
part,  though  her  companionship  with 
the  witch  is  admitted. 

In  such  a  case  the  following  is  the 
procedure.  First  they  are  to  be  brought 
face  to  face,  and  their  mutual  answers 
and  recriminations  noted,  to  see  whether 
there  is  any  inconsistency  in  their  words 
by  reason  of  which  the  Judge  can  decide 
from  her  admissions  and  denials  whether 
he  ought  to  expose  her  to  torture ;  and 
if  so,  he  can  proceed  as  in  the  third 
manner  of  pronouncing  sentence, 
explained  in  the  Twenty-second  Ques¬ 
tion,  submitting  her  to  light  tortures: 
at  the  same  time  exercising  every 
possible  precaution,  as  we  explained 
at  length  towards  the  beginning  of  this 
Third  Part,  to  find  out  whether  she  is 
innocent  or  guilty. 

The  fourth  case  is  when  a  person 
accused  in  this  manner  is  found  to  be 
lightly  suspected,  either  because  of  her 
own  confession  or  because  of  the 
depositions  of  the  other  witch  in 


r 


266 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  33. 


custody.  There  are  some  who  include 
among  those  who  should  be  thus 
lightly  suspected  those  who  go  and 
consult  witches  for  any  purpose,  or 
have  procured  for  themselves  a  lover 
by  stirring  up  hatred  between  married 
folk,  or  have  consorted  with  witches 
in  order  to  obtain  some  temporal 
advantage.  But  such  are  to  be  ex¬ 
communicated  as  followers  of  heretics, 
according  to  the  Canon  c.  excom¬ 
municamus,  where  it  says :  Similarly  we 
judge  those  to  be  heretics  who  believe 
in  their  errors.  For  the  effect  is  pre¬ 
sumed  from  the  facts.  Therefore  it 
seems  that  such  are  to  be  more  severely 
sentenced  and  punished  than  those  who 
are  under  a  light  suspicion  of  heresy 
and  are  to  be  judged  from  light  con¬ 
jectures.  For  example,  if  they  had  per¬ 
formed  services  for  witches  or  carried 
their  letters  to  them,  they  need  not  on 
that  account  believe  in  their  errors :  yet 
they  have  not  laid  information  against 
them,  and  they  have  received  wages 
and  vails  from  them.  But  whether  or 
not  such  people  are  to  be  included  in 
this  case,  according  to  +he  opinion  of 
learned  men  the  procedure  must  be 
as  in  the  case  of  those  under  a  light 
suspicion,  and  the  Judge  will  act  as 
follows.  Such  a  person  will  either 
abjure  heresy  or  will  purge  herself 
canonically,  as  was  explained  in  the 
fourth  method  of  pronouncing  sentence 
in  the  Twenty-third  Question. 

However,  it  seems  that  the  better 
course  is  for  such  a  person  to  be  ordered 
to  abjure  heresy,  for  this  is  more  in 
accordance  with  the  meaning  of  the 
Canon  c.  excommunicamus ,  where  it 
speaks  of  those  who  are  found  to  be 
only  under  some  notable  suspicion. 
And  if  such  should  relapse,  they  should 
not  incur  the  penalty  for  backsliders. 
The  procedure  will  be  as  above 
explained  in  the  fourth  method  of 
sentencing. 

The  fifth  case  is  when  such  person  is 
found  to  be  under  a  strong  suspicion, 
by  reason,  as  before,  of  her  own  con¬ 
fession  or  of  the  depositions  of  the  other 
witch  in  custody.  In  this  class  some 
include  those  who  directly  or  indirectly 
obstruct  the  Court  in  the  process  of 
trying  a  witch,  provided  that  they  do 
this  wittingly. 

Also  they  include  all  who  give  help, 
advice  or  protection  to  those  who  cause 
such  obstructions.  Also  those  who  in¬ 
struct  summoned  or  captured  heretics 


to  conceal  the  truth  or  in  some  way 
falsify  it.  Also  all  those  who  wittingly 
receive,  or  visit  those  whom  they  know 
to  be  heretics,  or  associate  with  them, 
send  them  gifts,  or  show  favour  to 
them ;  for  all  such  actions,  when  done 
with  full  knowledge,  bespeak  favour 
felt  towards  the  sin,  and  not  to  the 
person.  And  therefore  they  say  that, 
when  the  accused  is  guilty  of  any  of  the 
above  actions,  and  has  been  proved  so 
after  trial,  then  she  should  be  sentenced 
in  the  fifth  method,  explained  in  the 
Twenty-fourth  Question;  so  that  she 
must  abjure  all  heresy,  under  pain  of 
being  punished  as  a  backslider. 

As  to  these  contentions  we  may  say 
that  the  Judge  must  take  into  con¬ 
sideration  the  household  and  family 
of  each  several  witch  who  has  been 
burned  or  is  detained ;  for  these  are 
generally  found  to  be  infected. 

For  witches  are  instructed  by  devils 
to  offer  to  them  even  their  own  children ; 
therefore  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
such  children  are  instructed  in  all 
manner  of  crimes,  as  is  shown  in  the 
First  Part  of  this  work.  '  *  * 

Again,  in  a  case  of  simple  heresy  it 
happens  that,  on  account  of  the 
familiarity  between  heretics  who  are 
akin  to  each  other,  when  one  is  con¬ 
victed  of  heresy  it  follows  that  his 
kindred  also  are  strongly  suspected ;  and 
the  same  is  true  of  the  heresy  of  witches. 

But  this  present  case  is  made  clean 
in  the  chapter  of  the  Canon  inter 
sollicitudines.  For  a  certain  Dean  was,  , 
owing  to  his  reputation  as  a  heretic, 
enjoined  a  canonical  purgation ;  on 
account  of  his  familiarity  with  heretics, 
he  had  to  make  a  public  abjuration; 
and  '  through  the  scandal  he  was 
deprived  of  his  benefice,  so  that  the 
scandal  might  be  allayed. 

The  sixth  case  is  when  such  a  person 
is  under  a  grave  suspicion;  but  no 
simple  and  bare  deposition  by  another 
witch  in  custody  can  cause  this,  for 
there  must  be  in  addition  some  indica¬ 
tion  of  the  facts,  derived  from  certain 
words  or  deeds  uttered  or  committed 
by  the  witch  in  custody,  in  which  the 
accused  is  at  least  said  to  have  taken 
some  part,  and  shared  in  the  evil 
deeds  of  the  deponent.  *A 

To  understand  this,  the  reader  should 
refer  to  what  was  written  .in  the 
Nineteenth  Question,  especially  con¬ 
cerning  the  grave  degree  of  suspicion, 
how  it  arises  from  grave  and  convincing 


Part  III.  Question  33.  MALEFICARUM 


267 


conjectures;  and  how  the  Judge  is 
forced  to  believe,  on  mere  suspicion, 
that  a  person  is  a  heretic,  although 
perhaps  in  his  heart  he  is  a  true 
Catholic.  The  Canonists  give  an 
example  of  this  by  the  case,  in  simple 
heresy,  of  a  man  summoned  to  answer 
in  the  cause  of  the  faith,  and  defiantly 
refusing  to  appear,  on  which  account 
he  is  excommunicated,  and  if  he 
persists  in  that  state  for  a  year,  becomes 
gravely  suspected  of  heresy. 

And  so  likewise  in  the  case  of  a 
person  accused  in  the  way  we  are 
considering,  the  indications  of  the  facts 
are  to  be  examined  by  which  she  is 
rendered  gravely  suspect.  Let  us  put 
the  case  that  the  witch  in  custody  lias 
asserted  that  the  accused  has  taken  part 
in  her  evil  works  of  witchcraft,  but  the 
accused  firmly  denies  it.  What  then 
is  to  be  done?  It  will  be  necessary  to 
consider  whether  there  are  any  facts 
to  engender  a  strong  suspicion  of  her, 
and  whether  that  strong  suspicion  can 
become  a  grave  one.  Thus,  if  a  man 
has  been  summoned  to  answer  some 
charge,  and  has  obstinately  refused  to 
appear,  he  would  come  under  a  light 
suspicion  of  heresy,  even  if  he  had  not 
been  summoned  in  a  cause  concerning 
the  Faith.  But  if  he  then  refused  to 
appear  in  a  cause  concerning  the  Faith 
and  was  excommunicated  for  his 
obstinacy,  then  he  would  be  strongly 
suspected ;  for  the  light  suspicion  would 
become  a  strong  one;  and  if  then  he 
remained  obstinate  in  excommunica¬ 
tion  for  a  year,  the  strong  suspicion 
would  become  a  grave  one.  Therefore 
the  Judge  will  consider  whether,  by 
reason  of  her  familiarity  with  the  witch 
in  custody,  the  accused  is  under  a 
strong  suspicion,  in  the  manner  shown 
in  the  fifth  case  above ;  and  then  he 
must  consider  whether  there  is  any¬ 
thing  which  may  turn  that  strong 
suspicion  into  a  grave  one.  For  it  is 
resumed  that  it  is  possible  for  this  to 
e  the  case,  on  account  of  the  accused 
having  perhaps  shared  in  the  crimes  of 
the  detained  witch,  if  she  has  had 
frequent  intercourse  with  her.  There¬ 
fore  the  Judge  must  proceed  as  in  the 
sixth  method  of  sentencing  explained 
in*  the  Twenty-fifth  Question.  But  it 
may  be  asked  what  the  Judge  is  to  do 
if  the  person  so  accused  by  a  witch  in 
custody  still  altogether  persists  in  her 
denials,  in  spite  of  all  indications  against 
her.  We  answer  as  follows : 


First  the  Judge  must  consider 
whether  those  denials  do  or  do  not 
proceed  from  the  vice  or  witchcraft  of 
taciturnity:  and,  as  was  shown  in  the 
Fifteenth  and  Sixteenth  Questions  of 
this  Third  Part,  the  Judge  can  know 
this  from  her  ability  or  inability  to  shed 
tears,  or  from  her  insensibility  under 
torture  and  quick  recovery  of  her 
strength  afterwards.  For  then  the  grave 
suspicion  would  be  aggravated ;  and 
in  such  a  case  she  is  by  no  means  to  be 
freely  discharged,  but,  according  to  the 
sixth  method  of  sentencing,  she  must 
be  condemned  to  perpetual  imprison¬ 
ment  and  penance. 

But  if  sne  is  not  infected  with  the 
taciturnity  of  witches,  but  feels  the 
keenest  pains  in  her  torture  (whereas 
others,  as  has  been  said,  become 
insensible  to  pain  owing  to  the  witch¬ 
craft  of  taciturnity),  then  the  Judge 
must  fall  back  upon  his  last  expedient 
of  a  canonical  purgation.  And  if  this 
should  be  ordered  by  a  secular  Judge, 
it  is  called  a  lawful  vulgar  purgation, 
since  it  cannot  be  classed  with  other 
vulgar  purgations.  And  if  she  should 
fail  in  this  purgation  she  will  be  judged 
guilty. 

The  seventh  case  is  when  the  accused 
is  not  found  guilty  by  his  own  con¬ 
fession,  by  the  evidence  of  the  facts,  or 
by  legitimate  witnesses,  but  is  only 
found  to  be  accused  by  a  witch  in 
custody,  and  there  are  also  some 
indications  found  which  bring  him 
under  light  or  strong  suspicion.  As, 
for  example,  that  he  had  had  great 
familiarity  with  witches ;  in  which  case 
he  would,  according  to  the  Canon, 
have  to  undergo  a  canonical  purgation 
on  account  of  the  general  report  con¬ 
cerning  him;  and  on  account  of  the 
suspicion  against  him  he  must  abjure 
heresy,  under  pain  of  being  punished  as 
a  backslider  if  it  was  a  strong  suspicion, 
but  not  if  it  was  a  light  one. 

The  eighth  case  occurs  when  the 
person  so  accused  is  found  to  have 
confessed  that  heresy,  but  to  be  penitent, 
and  never  to  have  relapsed.  But  here 
it  is  to  be  noted  that  in  this  and  the 
other  cases,  where  it  is  a  question  of 
those  who  have  or  have  not  relapsed, 
and  who  are  or  are  not  penitent,  these 
distinctions  are  made  only  for  the 
benefit  of  Judges  who  are  not  con¬ 
cerned  with  the  infliction  of  the 
extreme  penalty.  Therefore  the  civil 
Judge  may  proceed  in  accordance  with 


268 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  34. 


the  Civil  and  Imperial  Laws,  as 
justice  shall  demand,  in  the  case  of  one 
who  has  confessed,  no  matter  whether 
or  not  she  be  penitent,  or  whether  or 
not  she  have  relapsed.  Only  he  may 
have  recourse  to  those  thirteen  methods 
of  pronouncing  sentence,  and  act  in 
accordance,  with  them,  if  any  doubtful 
question  should  arise. 

☆  * 

QUESTION  XXXIV 

Of  the  Method  of  passing  Sentence  upon  a 
Witch  who  Annuls  Spells  wrought  by 
Witchcraft ;  and  of  Witch  Midwives 
and  Archer- Wizards. 

THe  fifteenth  method  of  bringing 
a  process  on  behalf  of  the  faith  to 
a  definitive  sentence  is  employed  when 
the  person  accused  of  heresy  is  not  found 
to  be  one  who  casts  injurious  spells  of 
witchcraft,  but  one  who  removes  them ; 
and  in  such  a  case  the  procedure  will 
be  as  follows.  The  remedies  which  she 
uses  will  either  be  lawful  or  unlawful ; 
and  if  they  are  lawful,  she  is  not  to  be 
judged  a  witch  but  a  good  Christian. 
But  we  have  already  shown  at  length 
what  sort  of  remedies  are  lawful. 

Unlawful  remedies,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  to  be  distinguished  as  either 
absolutely  unlawful,  or  in  some  respect 
unlawful.  If  they  are  absolutely  unlaw¬ 
ful,  these  again  can  be  divided  into  two 
classes,  according  as  they  do  or  do  not 
involve  some  injury  to  another  party; 
but  in  either  case  they  are  always 
accompanied  by  an  expressed  invoca¬ 
tion  of  devils.  But  if  they  are  only  in 
some  respect  unlawful,  that  is  to  say, 
if  they  are  practised  with  only  a  tacit, 
and  not  an  expressed,  invocation  of 
devils,  such  are  to  be  judged  rather 
vain  than  unlawful,  according  to  the 
Canonists  and  some  Theologians,  as 
we  have  already  shown. 

Therefore  the  Judge,  whether  ecclesi¬ 
astical  or  civil,  must  not  punish  the 
first  and  last  of  the  above  practices, 
having  rather  to  commend  the  first 
and  tolerate  the  last,  since  the  Canonists 
maintain  that  it  is  lawful  to  oppose 
vanity  with  vanity.  But  he  must  by 
no  means  tolerate  those  who  remove 
spells  by  an  expressed  invocation  of 
devils,  especially  those  who  in  doing 
so  bring  some  injury  upon  a  third 
party ;  and  this  last  is  said  to  happen 


when  the  spell  is  taken  off  one  person 
and  transferred  to  another.  And  we 
have  already  made  it  clear  in  a  former 
part  of  this  work  that  it  makes  no 
difference  whether  the  person  to  whom 
the  'Spell  is  transferred  be  herself  a 
witch  or  not,  or  whether  or  not  she  be 
the  person  who  cast  the  original  spell, 
or  whether  it  be  a  man  or  any  other 
creature. 

It  may  be  asked  what  the  Judge 
should  do  when  such  a  person  main¬ 
tains  that  she  removes  spells  by  lawful 
and  not  unlawful  means ;  and  how  the 
Judge  can  arrive  at  the  truth  of  such  a 
case.  We  answer  that  he  should  sum¬ 
mon  her  and  ask  her  what  remedies 
she  uses ;  but  he  must  not  rely  only  upon 
her  word,  for  the  ecclesiastical  Judge 
whose  duty  it  is  must  make  diligent 
inquiry,  either  himself  or  by  means  of 
some  parish  priest  who  shall  examine 
all  His  parishioners  after  placing  them 
upon  oath,  as  to  what  remedies  she 
uses.  And  if,  as  is  usually  the  case, 
they  are  found  to  be  superstitious 
remedies,  they  must  in  no  way  be 
tolerated,  on  account  of  the  terrible 
penalties  laid  down  by  the  Canon  Law, 
as  will  be  shown. 

Again,  it  may  be  asked  how  the  lawful 
remedies  can  be  distinguished  from  the 
unlawful,  since  they  always  assert  that 
they  remove  spells  by  certain  prayers 
and  the  use  of  herbs.  We  answer  that 
this  will  be  easy,  provided  that  a 
diligent  inquiry  be  made.  For  although 
they  must  necessarily  conceal  their 
superstitious  remedies,  either  that  they 
may  not  be  arrested,  or  that  they  may 
the  more  easily  ensnare  the  minds  of 
the  simple,  and  therefore  make  great 
show  of  their  use  of  prayers  and  herbs ; 
yet  they  can  be  manifestly  convicted 
by  four  superstitious  actions  as  sor¬ 
ceresses  and  witches. 

For  there  are  some  who  can  divine 
secrets,  and  are  able  to  tell  things  which 
they  could  only  know  through  the 
revelation  of  evil  spirits.  For  example  : 
when  the  injured  come  to  them  to 
be  healed,  they  can  discover  and  make 
known  the  cause  of  their  injury ;  as  that 
it  arose  from  some  quarrel  with  a 
neighbour  or  some  other  cause;  and 
they  can  perfectly  know  this  and  tell  it 
to  those  who  consult  them. 

Secondly,  they  sometimes  undertake 
to  cure  the  injury  or  spell  of  one  person, 
but  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  that 
of  another.  For  in  the  Diocese  of  Spires 


Part  III.  Question  34.  MALEFICARUM 


269 


there  is  a  witch  in  a  certain  place 
called  Zunhofen  who,  although  she 
seems  to  heal  many  persons,  confesses 
that  she  can  in  no  way  heal  certain 
others ;  and  this  is  for  no  other  reason 
than,  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  place 
assert,  that  the  spells  cast  on  such 
ersons  have  been  so  potently  wrought 
y  other  witches  with  the  help  of  devils 
that  the  devils  themselves  cannot 
remove  them.  For  one  devil  cannot  or 
will  not  always  yield  to  another. 

Thirdly,  it  sometimes  happens  that 
they  know  that  they  must  make  some 
reservation  or  exception  in  their  cure 
of  such  injuries.  Such  a  case  is  known 
to  have  occurred  in  the  town  of  Spires 
itself.  An  honest  woman  who  had  oeen 
bewitched  in  her  shins  sent  for  a 
diviner  of  this  sort  to  come  and  heal 
her;  and  when  the  witch  had  entered 
her  house  and  looked  at  her,  she 
made  such  an  exception.  For  she  said : 
If  there  are  no  scales  and  hairs  in  the 
wound,  I  could  take  out  all  the  other 
evil  matter.  And  she  revealed  the 
cause  of  the  injury,  although  she  had 
come  from  the  country  from  a  distance 
of  two  miles,  saying:  You  quarrelled 
with  your  neighbour  on  such  a  day, 
and  therefore  this  has  happened  to 
you.  Then,  having  extracted  from  the 
wound  many  other  matters  of  various 
sorts,  which  were  not  scales  or  hairs, 
she  restored  her  to  health. 

Fourthly,  they  sometimes  themselves 
observe,  or  cause  to  be  observed,  certain 
superstitious  ceremonies.  For  instance, 
they  fix  some  such  time  as  before 
sunrise  for  people  to  visit  them ;  or  say 
that  they  cannot  heal  injuries  which 
were  caused  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
estate  on  which  they  live ;  or  that  they 
can  only  heal  two  or  three  persons  in  a 
year.  Yet  they  do  not  heal  them,  but 
only  seem  to  do  so  by  ceasing  to  injure 
them. 

We  could  add  many  other  con¬ 
siderations  as  touching  the  condition 
of  such  persons :  as  that,  after  the  lapse 
of  a  certain  time  they  have  incurred 
the  reputation  of  leading  a  bad  and 
sinful  life,  or  that  they  are  adulteresses, 
or  the  survivors  from  covens  of  other 
witches.  Therefore  their  gift  of  healing 
is  not  derived  from  God  on  account  of 
the  sanctity  of  their  lives. 

Here  we  must  refer  incidentally  to 
witch  midwives,  who  surpass  all  other 
witches  in  their  crimes,  as  we  have 
shown  in  the  First  Part  of  .  this  work. 


And  the  number  of  them  is  so  great 
that,  as  has  been  found*  from  their 
confessions,  it  is  thought  that  there  is 
scarcely  any  tiny  hamlet  in  which  at 
least  one  is  not  to  be  found.  And  that 
the  magistrates  may  in  some  degree 
meet  this  danger,  they  should  allow  no 
midwife  to  practise  without  having 
been  first  sworn  as  a  good  Catholic; 
at  the  same  time  observing  the  other 
safeguards  mentioned  in  the  Second 
Part  of  this  work. 

Here  too  we  must  consider  archer- 
wizards,  who  constitute  the  graver 
danger  to  the  Christian  religion  in  that 
they  have  obtained  protection  on  the 
estates  of  nobles  and  Princes  who 
receive,  patronize,  and  defend  them. 
But  that  all  such  receivers  and  pro¬ 
tectors  are  more  damnable  than  all 
witches,  especially  in  certain  cases,  is 
shown  as-  follows.  The  Canonists  and 
Theologians  divide  into  two  classes  the 
patrons  of  such  archer-wizards,  accord¬ 
ing  as  they  defend  the  error  or  the 
person.  They  who  defend  the  error  are 
more  damnable  than  the  wizards  them¬ 
selves,  since  they  are  judged  to  be  not 
only  heretics  but  heresiarchs  (24,  quest. 
3).  And  the  laws  do  not  make  much 
special  mention  of  such  patrons, 
because  they  do  not  distinguish  them 
from  other  heretics. 

But  there  are  others  who,  while 
not  excusing  the  sin,  yet  defend  the 
sinner.  These,  for  example,  will  do  all 
in  their  power  to  protect  such  wizards 
(or  other  heretics)  from  trial  and 
punishment  at  the  hands  of  the  Judge 
acting  on  behalf  of  the  Faith. 

Similarly  there  are  those  in  public 
authority,  that  is  to  say,  public  persons 
such  as  temporal  Lords,  and  also 
spiritual  Lords  who  have  temporal 
jurisdiction,  who  are,  either  by  omis¬ 
sion  or  commission,  patrons  of  such 
wizards  and  heretics. 

They  are  their  patrons  by  omission 
when  they  neglect  to  perform  their  duty 
in  regard  to  such  wizards  and  suspects, 
or  to  their  followers,  receivers,  defenders 
and  patrons,  when  they  are  required 
by  the  Bishops  or  Inquisitors  to  do  this : 
that  is,  by  failing  to  arrest  them,  by  not 
guarding  them  carefully  when  they  are 
arrested,  by  not  taking  them  to  the 
place  within  their  jurisdiction  which 
has  been  appointed  for  them,  by  not 
promptly  executing  the  sentence  passed 
upon  them,  and  by  other  such  derelic¬ 
tions  of  their  duty. 


270 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  34. 


They  are  their  patrons  by  com¬ 
mission  when,  after  such  heretics  have 
been  arrested,  they  liberate  them  from 
prison  without  the  licence  or  order  of 
the  Bishop  or  Judge;  or  when  they 
directly  or  indirectly  obstruct  the  trial, 
judgement,  and  sentence  of  such,  or 
act  in  some  similar  way.  The  penalties 
for  this  have  been  declared  in  the 
Second  Part  of  this  work,  where  we 
treated  of  archer-wizards  and  other 
enchanters  of  weapons. 

It  is  enough  now  to  say  that  all  these 
are  by  law  excommunicated,  and  incur 
the  twelve  great  penalties.  And  if  they 
continue  obstinate  in  that  excom¬ 
munication  for  a  year,  they  are  then 
to  be  condemned  as  heretics. 

Who,  then,  are  to  be  called  receivers 
of  such ;  and  are  they  to  be  reckoned  as 
heretics?  All  they,  we  answer,  who 
receive  such  archer-wizards,  enchanters 
of  weapons,  necromancers,  or  heretic 
witches  as  are  the  subject  of  this  whole 
work.  And  such  receivers  are  of  two 
classes,  as  was  the  case  with  the 
defenders  and  patrons  of  such. 

For  there  are  some  who  do  not 
receive  them  only  once  or  twice,  but 
many  times  and  often;  and  these  are 
well  called  in  Latin  receptatores ,  from 
the  frequentative  form  of  the  verb. 
And  receivers  of  this  class  are  some¬ 
times  blameless,  since  they  act  in 
ignorance  and  there  is  no  sinister 
suspicion  attaching  to  them.  But  some¬ 
times  they  are  to  blame,  as  being  well 
aware  of  the  sins  of  those  whom  they 
receive ;  for  the  Church  always  de¬ 
nounces  these  wizards  as  the  most 
cruel  enemies  of  the  faith.  And  if 
nevertheless  temporal  Lords  receive, 
keep  and  defend  them,  etc.,  they  are  and 
are  rightly  called  receivers  of  heretics. 
And  with  regard  to  such,  the  laws  say 
that  they  are  to  be  excommunicated. 

But  others  there  are  who  do  not 
often  or  many  times  receive  such 
wizards  or  heretics,  but  only  once  or 
twice ;  and  these  are  not  properly  called 
receptatores ,  but  receptores ,  since  they  are 
not  frequent  receivers.  (Yet  the  Arch¬ 
deacon  disagrees  with  this  view ;  but  it 
is  no  great  matter,  for  we  are  consider¬ 
ing  not  words  but  deeds.) 

But  there  is  this  difference  between 
receptatores  and  receptores:  those  temporal 
Princes  are  always  receptatores  who 
simply  will  not  or  cannot  drive  away 
such  heretics.  But  receptores  may  be 
quite  innocent. 


Finally,  it  is  asked  who  are  they  who 
are  said  to  be  obstructors  of  the  duty 
of  Inquisitors  and  Bishops  against  such 
heretics;  and  whether  they  are  to  be 
reckoned  as  heretics.  We  answer  that 
such  obstructors  are  of  two  kinds.  For 
there  are  some  who  cause  a  direct 
obstruction,  by  rashly  on  their  own 
responsibility  releasing  from  gaol  those 
who  have  been  detained  on  a  charge 
of  heresy,  or  by  interfering  with  the 
process  of  the  Inquisition  by  wreaking 
some  injury  to  witnesses  on  behalf  of 
the  Faith  because  of  the  evidence  they 
have  given;  or  it  may  be  that  the 
temporal  Lord  issues  an  order  that  none 
but  himself  may  try  such  a  case,  and 
that  anyone  charged  with  this  crime 
should  be  brought  before  no  one  but 
himself,  and  that  the  evidence  should 
be  given  only  in  his  presence,  or  some 
similar  order.  And  such,  according  to 
Giovanni  d’ Andrea,  are  direct  obstruc¬ 
tors.  They  who  directly  obstruct  the 
process,  judgement  or  sentence  on 
behalf  of  the  Faith, »or  help,  advise  or 
favour  others  in  doing  so,  although  they 
are  guilty  of  great  sin,  are  not  on  that 
account  to  be  judged  heretics,  unless 
it  appears  in  other  ways  that  they  are 
obstinately  and  wilfully  involved  in 
such  heresies  of  witches.  But  they  are 
to  be  smitten  with  the  sword  of  ex- 
communication  ;  and  if  they  stubbornly 
endure  that  excommunication  for  a 
year,  then  are  they  to  be  condemned 
as  heretics. 

But  others  are  indirect  obstructors. 
These,  as  Giovanni  d’Andrea  explains, 
are  those  who  give  such  orders  as  that 
no  one  shall  bear  arms  for  the  capture 
of  heretics  except  the  servants  of  the 
said  temporal  Lord.  Such  are  less 
guilty  than  the  former,  and  are  not 
heretics;  but  they,  and  also  any  who 
advise,  help  or  patronize  them  in  such 
actions,  are  to  be  excommunicated ; 
and  if  they  obstinately  remain  in  that 
excommunication  for  a  year,  they  are 
then  to  be  condemned  as  if  they  were 
heretics.  And  here  it  is  to  be  under¬ 
stood  that  they  are  in  such  a  way  to  be 
condemned  as  heretics  that,  if  they 
are  willing  to  return,  they  are  received 
back  to  mercy,  having  first  abjured  their 
error ;  but  if  not,  they  are  to  be  handed 
over  to  the  secular  Court  as  impeni tents. 

To  sum  up.  Witch-midwives,  like 
other  witches,  are  to  be  condemned  and 
sentenced  according  to  the  nature  of 
their  crimes;  and  this  is  true  also  of 


271 


Part  III.  Question  35.  MALEFICARUM 


those  who,  as  we  have  said,  remove 
spells  of  witchcraft  superstitiously  and 
by  the  help  of  devils ;  for  it  can  hardly 
be  doubted  that,  just  as  they  are  able 
to  remove  them,  so  can  they  inflict 
them.  And  it  is  a  fact  that  some 
definite  agreement  is  formed  between 
witches  and  devils  whereby  some  shall 
be  able  to  hurt  and  others  to  heal,  that 
so  they  may  more  easily  ensnare  the 
minds  of  the  simple  and  recruit  the 
ranks  of  their  abandoned  and  hateful 
society.  Archer-wizards  and  enchanters 
of  weapons,  who  are  only  protected  by 
being  patronized,  defended  and  re¬ 
ceived  by  temporal  Lords,  are  subject 
to  the  same  penalties;  and  they  who 
patronize  them,  etc.,  or  obstruct  the 
officers  of  justice  in  their  proceedings 
against  them,  are  subject  to  all  the 
penalties  to  which  the  patrons  of  heretics 
are  liable,  and  are  to  be  excommunic¬ 
ated.  And  if  after  they  have  obstinately 
endured  that  excommunication  for  a 
year  they  wish  to  repent,  let  them 
abjure  that  obstruction  and  patronage, 
and  they  can  be  admitted  to  mercy; 
but  if  not,  they  must  be  handed  over 
as  impenitents  to  the  secular  Court. 
And  even  if  they  have  not  endured 
their  excommunication  for  a  year,  such 
obstructors  can  still  be  proceeded 
against  as  patrons  of  heretics. 

And  all  that  has  been  said  with 
regard  to  patrons,  defenders,  receivers, 
and  obstructors  in  the  case  of  archer- 
wizards,  etc.,  applies  equally  in  respect 
of  all  other  witches  who  work  various 
injuries  to  men,  animals,  and  the  fruits 
of  the  earth.  But  even  the  witches 
themselves,  when  in  the  court  of 
conscience  with  humble  and  contrite 
spirit  they  weep  for  their  sins  and  make 
clean  confession  asking  forgiveness,  are 
taken  back  to  mercy.  But  when  they 
are  knowh,  those  whose  duty  it  is  must 
proceed  against  them,  summoning, 
examining,  and  detaining  them,  and  in 
all  things  proceeding  in  accordance 
with  the  nature  of  their  crimes  to  a 
definitive  and  conclusive  sentence,  as 
has  been  shown,  if  they  wish  to  avoid 
the  snare  of  eternal  damnation  by 
reason  of  the  excommunication  pro¬ 
nounced  upon  them  by  the  Church 
when  they  deliberately  fail  in  their  duty. 

☆ 


QUESTION  XXXV 

Finally ,  of  the  Method  of  passing  Sentence 
upon  Witches  who  Enter  or  Cause  to  be 
Entered  an  Appeal ,  whether  such  be 
Frivolous  or  Legitimate  and  Just. 

BUT  if  the  Judge  perceives  that  the 
accused  is  determined  to  have 
recourse  to  an  appeal,  he  must  first 
take  note  that  such  appeals  are  some¬ 
times  valid  and  legitimate,  and  some¬ 
times  entirely  frivolous.  Now  it  has 
already  been  explained  that  cases  con¬ 
cerning  the  Faith  are  to  be  conducted 
in  a  simple  and  summary  fashion,  and 
therefore  that  no  appeal  is  admitted 
in  such  cases.  Nevertheless  it  sometimes 
happens  that  Judges,  on  account  of  the 
difficulty  of  the  case,  gladly  prorogue 
and  delay  it ;  therefore  they  may 
consider  that  it  would  be  just  to  allow 
an  appeal  when  the  accused  feels  that 
the  Judge  has  really  and  actually  acted 
towards  him  in  a  manner  contrary  to 
the  law  and  justice ;  as  that  he  has 
refused  to  allow  him  to  defend  himself, 
or  that  he  has  proceeded  to  a  sentence 
against  the  accused  on  his  own  responsi¬ 
bility  and  without  the  counsel  of  others, 
or  even  without  the  consent  of  the 
Bishop  or  his  Vicar,  when  he  might  have 
taken  into  consideration  much  further 
evidence  both  for  and  against.  For 
such  reasons  an  appeal  may  be  allowed, 
but  not  otherwise. 

Secondly,  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  when 
notice  of  appeal  has  been  given,  the 
Judge  should,  without  any  perturbation 
or  disturbance,  ask  for  a  copy  of  the 
appeal,  giving  his  promise  that  the 
matter  shall  not  be  delayed.  And  when 
the  accused  has  given  him  the  copy  of 
the  appeal,  the  Judge  shall  notify  him 
that  he  has  yet  two  days  before  he  need 
answer  it,  and  after  those  two  days 
thirty  more  before  he  need  prepare  the 
apostils  of  the  case.  And  although  he 
may  give  his  answer  at  once,  and  at 
once  proceed  to  issue  his  apostils  if  he 
is  very  expert  and  experienced,  yet  it 
is  better  to  act  with  caution,  and  fix  a 
term  of  ten  or  twenty  or  twenty-five 
days,  reserving  to  himself  the  right  to 
prorogue  the  hearing  of  the  appeal  up 
to  the  legal  limit  of  time. 

Thirdly,  let  the  Judge  take  care  that 
during  the  legal  and  appointed  interval 
he  must  diligently  examine  and  dis¬ 
cuss  the  causes  of  the  appeal  and  the 
alleged  grounds  of  objection.  And  if 


272 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  35. 


after  having  taken  good  counsel  he 
sees  that  he  has  unduly  and  unjustly 
proceeded  against  the  accused,  by 
refusing  him  permission  to  defend 
himself,  or  by  exposing  him  to  ques¬ 
tions  at  an  unsuitable  time,  or  for  any 
such  reason ;  when  the  appointed  time 
comes  let  him  correct  his  mistake, 
carrying  the  process  back  to  the  point 
and  stage  where  it  was  when  the 
accused  asked  to  be  defended,  or  when 
he  put  a  term  to  his  examination,  etc., 
and  so  remove  the  objection ;  and  then 
let  him  proceed  as  we  have  said.  For 
by  the  removal  of  the  grounds  for 
objection  the  appeal,  which  was  legi¬ 
timate,  loses  its  weight. 

But  here  the  circumspect  and  provi¬ 
dent  Judge  will  carefully  take  note  that 
some  grounds  of  objection  are  reparable ; 
and  they  are  such  as  we  have  just 
spoken  of,  and  are  to  be  dealt  with  in 
the  above  manner.  But  others  are 
irreparable:  as  when  the  accused  has 
actually  and  in  fact  been  questioned, 
but  has  afterwards  escaped  and  lodged 
an  appeal ;  or  that  some  box  or  vessel 
or  such  instruments  as  witches  use  has 
been  seized  and  burned ;  or  some  other 
such  irreparable  and  irrevocable  action 
has  been  committed.  In  such  a  case 
the  above  procedure  would  not  hold 
good,  namely,  taking  the  process  back 
to  the  point  where  the  objection  arose. 

Fourthly,  the  Judge  must  note  that, 
although  thirty  days  may  elapse  be¬ 
tween  his  receiving  the  appeal  and 
his  completing  the  apostils  of  the  case, 
and  he  can  assign  to  the  petitioner  the 
last  day,  that  is,  the  thirtieth,  for  the 
hearing  of  his  appeal ;  yet,  that  it  may 
not  seem  that  he  wishes  to  molest  the 
accused  or  come  under  suspicion  of 
unduly  harsh  treatment  of  him,  and 
that  his  behaviour  may  not  seem  to  lend 
support  to  the  objection  which  has 
caused  the  appeal,  it  is  better  that  he 
should  assign  some  day  within  the  legal 
limit,  such  as  the  tenth  or  twentieth 
day,  and  he  can  afterwards,  if  he  does 
not  wish  to  be  in  a  hurry,  postpone  it 
until  the  last  legal  day,  saying  that  he  is 
busy  with  other  affairs. 

Fifthly,  the  Judge  must  take  care 
that,  when  he  affixes  a  term  for  the 
accused  who  is  appealing  and  petition¬ 
ing  for  apostils,  he  must  provide  not 
only  for  the  giving,  but  both  for  the 
giving  and  receiving  of  apostils.  For 
if  he  provided  only  for  the  giving  of 
them,  then  the  Judge  against  whom 


the  appeal  is  lodged  would  have  to 
discharge  the  appellant.  Therefore  let 
him  assign  to  him  a  term,  that  is,  such 
a  day  of  such  a  year,  for  the  giving  and 
receiving  from  the  Judge  such  apostils 
as  he  shall  have  decided  to  submit. 

Sixthly,  he  must  take  care  that,  in 
assigning  this  term,  he  shall  not  in  his 
answer  say  that  he  will  give  either 
negative  or  affirmative  apostils;  but 
that  he  may  have  opportunity  for  fuller 
reflection,  let  him  say  that  he  will  give 
such  as  he  shall  at  the  appointed  time 
have  decided  upon. 

Let  him  also  take  care  that  in  assign¬ 
ing  this  term  to  the  appellant  he  give 
the  appellant  no  opportunity  to  exercise 
any  malicious  precautions  or  cunning, 
and  that  he  specify  the  place,  day,  and 
hour.  For  example,  let  him  assign  the 
twentieth  day  of  August,  in  the  present 
year,  at  the  hour  of  vespers,  and  the 
chamber  of  the  Judge  himself  in  such  a 
house,  in  such  a  city,  for  the  giving  and 
receiving  of  apostils  such  as  shall  have 
been  decided  upon  for  such  appellant. 

Seventhly,  let  him  note  that,  if  he 
has  decided  in  his  mind  that  the  charge 
against  the  accused  justly  requires  that 
he  should  be  detained,  in  assigning  the 
term  he  must  set  it  down  that  he  assigns 
that  term  for  the  giving  or  receiving  of 
apostils  by  the  appellant  in  person, 
and  that  he  assigns  to  the  said  appellant 
such  a  place  for  giving  to  him  and 
receiving  from  him  apostils;  and  then 
it  will  be  fully  in  the  power  of  the  Judge 
to  detain  the  appellant,  granted  that 
he  has  first  given  negative  apostils ;  but 
otherwise  it  will  not  be  so. 

Eighthly,  let  the  Judge  take  care  not 
to  take  any  further  action  in  respect  of 
the  appellant,  such  as  arresting  him, 
or  questioning  him,  or  liberating  him 
from  prison,  from  the  time  when  the 
appeal  is  presented  to  him  up  to  the 
time  when  he  has  returned  negative 
apostils. 

To  sum  up.  Note  that  it  often 
happens  that,  when  the  accused  is  in 
doubt  as  to  what  sort  of  sentence  he 
will  receive,  since  he  is  conscious  of  his 
guilt,  he  frequently  takes  refuge  in  an 
appeal,  that  so  he  may  escape  the 
Judge’s  sentence.  Therefore  he  appeals 
from  that  Judge,  advancing  some 
frivolous  reason,  as  that  the  Judge  held 
him  in  custody  without  allowing  him 
the  customary  surety;  or  in  some  such 
way  he  may  colour  his  frivolous  appeal. 
In  this  case  the  Judge  shall  ask  for  a 


273 


Part  III.  Question  35.  MALEFICARUM 


copy  of  the  appeal ;  and  having  received 
it  he  shall  either  at  once  or  after  two 
days  give  his  answer  and  assign  to  the 
appellant  for  the  giving  and  receiving 
of  such  apostils  as  shall  have  been 
decided  upon  a  certain  day,  hour,  and 
place,  within  the  legal  limit,  as,  for 
instance,  the  25th,  26th  or  30th  day  of 
such  a  month.  And  during  the  assigned 
interval  the  Judge  shall  diligently 
examine  the  copy  of  the  appeal,  and 
the  reasons  or  objections  upon  which 
it  is  based,  and  shall  consult  with 
learned  lawyers  whether  he  shall  sub¬ 
mit  negative  apostils,  that  is,  negative 
answers,  and  thereby  disallow  the 
appeal,  or  whether  he  shall  allow  the 
appeal  and  submit  affirmative  and 
fitting  apostils  to  the  Judge  to  whom  the 
appeal  is  made. 

but  if  he  sees  that  the  reasons  for  the 
appeal  are  frivolous  and  worthless,  and 
that  the  appellant  only  wishes  to 
escape  or  to  postpone  his  sentence,  let 
his  apostils  be  negative  and  refutatory. 
If,  however,  he  sees  that  the  objections 
are  true  and  just,  and  not  irreparable ; 
or  if  he  is  in  doubt  whether  the  accused 
is  maliciously  causing  him  trouble, 
and  wishes  to  clear  himself  of  all 
suspicion,  let  him  grant  the  appellant 
affirmative  and  fitting  apostils.  And 
when  the  appointed  time  for  the 
appellant  has  arrived,  if  the  Judge  has 
not  prepared  his  apostils  or  answers, 
or  in  some  other  way  is  not  ready,  the 
appellant  can  at  once  demand  that 
his  appeal  be  heard,  and  may  continue 
to  do  so  on  each  successive  day  up  to 
the  thirtieth,  which  is  the  last  day 
legally  allowed  for  the  submission  of 
the  apostils. 

But  if  he  has  prepared  them  and  is 
ready,  he  can  at  once  give  his  apostils 
to  the  appellant.  If,  then,  he  has 
decided  to  give  negative  or  refutatory 
apostils,  he  shall,  at  the  expiration  of 
the  appointed  time,  submit  them  in  the 
following  manner  : 

And  the  said  Judge,  answering  to  the 
said  appeal,  if  it  may  be  called  an 
appeal,  says  that  he,  the  Judge,  has 
proceeded  and  did  intend  to  proceed 
in  accordance  with  the  Canonical 
decrees  and  the  Imperial  statutes  and 
laws,  and  has  not  departed  from  the 
path  of  either  law  nor  intended  so  to 
depart,  and  has  in  no  way  acted  or 
intended  to  act  unjustly  towards  the 
appellant,  as  is  manifest  from  an 
examination  of  the  alleged  grounds  for 


this  appeal.  For  he  has  not  acted 
unjustly  towards  him  by  detaining  him 
and  keeping  him  in  custody ;  for  he  was 
accused  of  such  heresy,  and  there  was 
such  evidence  against  him  that  he  was 
worthily  convicted  of  heresy,  or  was 
strongly  suspected,  and  as  such  it  was 
and  is  just  that  he  should  be  kept  in 
custody :  neither  has  he  acted  unjustly 
by  refusing  him  sureties ;  for  the  crime 
of  heresy  is  one  of  the  more  serious 
crimes,  and  the  appellant  had  been 
convicted  but  persisted  in  denying  the 
charge,  and  therefore  not  even  the 
very  best  sureties  were  admissible,  but 
he  is  and  was  to  be  detained  in  prison. 
And  so  he  shall  proceed  with  the  other 
objections. 

Having  done  this,  let  him  say  as 
follows:  Wherefore  it  is  apparent  that 
the  Judge  has  duly  and  justly  pro¬ 
ceeded,  and  has  not  deviated  from  the 
path  of  justice,  and  has  in  no  way 
unduly  molested  the  appellant ;  but  the 
appellant,  advancing  pretended  and 
false  objections,  has  by  an  undue  and 
unjust  appeal  attempted  to  escape  his 
sentence.  Wherefore  his  appeal  is  fri¬ 
volous  and  worthless,  having  no  founda¬ 
tion,  and  erring  in  matter  and  form. 
And  since  the  laws  do  not  recognize 
frivolous  appeals,  nor  are  they  to  be 
recognized  by  the  Judge,  therefore  the 
Judge  has  himself  said  that  he  does  not 
admit  and  does  not  intend  to  admit 
the  said  appeal,  nor  does  he  recognize 
nor  yet  propose  to  recognize  it.  And 
he  gives  this  answer  to  the  said  accused 
who  makes  this  undue  appeal  in  the 
form  of  negative  apostils,  and  com¬ 
mands  that  they  be  given  to  him 
immediately  after  the  said  appeal. 
And  so  he  shall  give  it  to  the  Notary 
who  has  presented  the  appeal  to  him. 

And  when  these  negative  apostils 
have  been  given  to  the  appellant,  the 
Judge  shall  at  once  proceed  with  his 
duty,  ordering  the  accused  to  be 
seized  and  detained,  or  assigning  to  him 
a  day  to  appear  before  him,  as  shall 
seem  best  to  him.  For  he  does  not 
cease  to  be  the  Judge,  but  shall  con¬ 
tinue  his  process  against  the  appellant 
until  the  Judge  to  whom  the  appeal 
was  made  shall  order  him  to  cease. 

But  let  the  Judge  take  care  not  to 
commence  any  new  proceedings  against 
the  appellant,  by  arresting  him  or,  if 
he  is  in  custody,  liberating  him  from 
prison,  from  the  time  of  the  presenta¬ 
tion  of  the  appeal  up  to  the  time  of  the 


274 


MALLEUS 


Part  III.  Question  35. 


return  of  negative  apostils  to  him.  But 
after  that  time,  as  we  have  said,  he  can 
do  so  if  justice  requires  it,  until  he  is  pre¬ 
vented  by  the  Judge  to  whom  the  appeal 
has  been  made.  Then,  with  the  process 
sealed  under  cover,  and  with  a  sure  and 
safe  escort  and  if  necessary  a  suitable 
surety,  let  him  send  him  to  the  said 
Judge. 

But  if  the  Judge  has  decided  to 
return  affirmative  and  fitting  apostils, 
let  him  submit  them  in  writing  in  the 
following  manner  on  the  arrival  of  the 
day  appointed  for  the  giving  and 
receiving  of  apostils : 

And  the  said  Judge,  answering  to  the 
said  appeal,  if  it  may  be  called  an 
appeal,  says  that  he  has  proceeded  in 
the  present  cause  justiy  and  as  he  ought 
and  not  otherwise,  nor  has  he  molested 
or  intended  to  molest  the  appellant, 
as  is  apparent  from  a  perusal  of  the 
alleged  objections.  For  he  has  not 
molested  him  by,  etc.  (Here  he  shall 
answer  to  each  of  the  objections  in  the 
appeal,  in  the  best  and  most  truthful 
manner  that  he  can.) 

Wherefore  it%  is  apparent  that  the 
said  Judge  has  in  no  way  dealt  unjustly 
by  the  appellant  nor  given  him  cause 
to  appeal,  but  that  the  appellant  is 
afraid  lest  justice  should  proceed 
against  him  according  to  his  crimes. 
And  therefore  the  appeal  is  frivolous 
and  worthless,  having  no  foundation, 
and  not  being  admissible  by  the  laws 
or  the  Judge.  But  in  reverence  for  the 
Apostolic  See,  to  which  the  appeal  is 
made,  the  said  Judge  says  that  he 
admits  the  appeal  and  intends  to 
recognize  it,  deferring  the  whole  matter 
to  our  Most  Holy  Lord  the  Pope,  and 
leaving  it  to  the  Holy  Apostolic  See: 
assigning  to  the  said  appellant  a  certain 
time,  namely,  so  many  months  now 
following,  within  which,  with  the 
process  sealed  under  cover  given  to  him 
by  the  said  Judge,  or  having  given 
suitable  sureties  to  present  himself  at 
the  Court  of  Rome,  or  under  a  sure  and 
safe  escort  appointed  to  him  by  the 
said  Judge,  he  must  present  himself  in 
the  Court  of  Rome  before  our  Lord  the 
Pope.  And  this  answer  the  said  Judge 
gives  to  the  said  appellant  as  affirmative 
apostils,  and  orders  that  it  be  given  to 
him  immediately  after  the  appeal 
presented  to  him.  And  so  he  shall  hand 
it  to  the  Notary  who  has  presented  the 
appeal  to  him. 

The  prudent  Judge  must  here  take 


note  that,  as  soon  as  he  has  given  these 
fitting  apostils  to  the  appellant,  he 
at  once  ceases  to  be  the  Judge  in  that 
cause  from  which  the  appeal  was 
made,  and  can  proceed  no  further  in  it, 
unless  it  be  referred  back  to  him  by  our 
Most  Holy  Lord  the  Pope.  Therefore 
let  him  have  no  more  to  do  with  that 
case,  except  to  send  the  said  appellant 
in  the  above  manner  to  our  Lord  the 
Pope,  assigning  to  him  a  convenient 
time,  say  one,  two  or  three  months, 
within  which  he  must  prepare  and 
make  himself  ready  to  appear  and 
present  himself  at  the  Court  of  Rome, 
giving  a  suitable  surety ;  or,  if  he  cannot 
do  this,  let  him  be  sent  under  a  sure 
and  safe  escort.  For  he  must  either 
bind  himself  by  the  best  means  in  his 
power  to  present  himself  within  the 
assigned  time  before  our  Lord  the  Pope 
in  the  Court  of  Rome,  or  his  appeal 
must  necessarily  fall  to  the  ground. 

But  if  the  Judge  has  another  case, 
and  proceeds  against  the  accused  in 
another  case  in  which  he  has  not  lodged 
any  appeal;  in  that  other  case  he 
remains,  as  before,  Judge.  And  even  if, 
after  the  appeal  has  been  admitted, 
and  the  affirmative  apostils  have  been 
given,  the  appellant  is  accused  and 
denounced  to  the  Judge  in  respect  of 
other  heresies  which  were  not  in 
question  in  the  case  from  which  he 
appealed,  he  does  not  cease  to  be  the 
Judge,  and  can  proceed  with  the 
inquiry  and  the  examination  of  wit¬ 
nesses  as  before.  And  when  the  first 
case  has  been  finished  in  the  Court  of 
Rome,  or  after  reference  back  to  the 
Judge,  he  is  free  to  proceed  with  the 
second. 

Let  Judges  also  take  care  that  they 
send  the  process  to  the  Court  of  Rome, 
sealed  and  under  cover,  to  the  Judges 
appointed  to  execute  justice,  together 
with  a  digest  of  the  merits  of  the  pro¬ 
cess.  And  Inquisitors  should  not  con¬ 
cern  themselves  to  appear  at  Rome 
against  the  appellants ;  but  should 
leave  them  to  their  own  Judges,  who, 
if  the  Inquisitors  are  unwilling  to 
appear  against  the  appellants,  shall 
provide  their  own  advocates  for  the 
appellant,  if  they  wish  to  expedite  the 
case. 

Let  Judges  also  take  note  that,  if  they 
are  personally  summoned  by  the  appel¬ 
lant,  and  appear,  they  must  beware  at 
all  costs  against  engaging  in  litigation, 
but  must  leave  the-  whole  process  and 


275 


Part  III.  Question  35.  MALEFICARUM 


cause  to  those  Judges,  and  so  manage 
that  they  may  be  able  to  return  as  soon 
as  possible;  so  that  they  may  not  be 
sorely  troubled  with  fatigues,  misery, 
labour,  and  expense  in  Rome.  For  by 
this  means  much  damage  is  caused  to 
the  Church,  and  heretics  are  greatly 
encouraged;  and  thereafter  Judges  will 
not  receive  so  much  respect  and 
reverence,  nor  will  they  be  so  much 
feared  as  before.  Also  other  heretics, 
seeing  the  Judges  fatigued  and  detained 
in  the  Court  of  Rome,  will  exalt  their 
horns,  and  despise  and  malign  them, 


and  more  boldly  proclaim  their  here¬ 
sies;  and  when  they  are  accused,  they 
will  appeal  in  the  same  way.  Other 
Judges,  also,  will  have  their  authority 
weakened  when  they  proceed  on  behalf 
of  the  Faith  and  are  zealous  in  extirpat¬ 
ing  heretics,  since  they  will  fear  lest 
they  may  be  troubled  with  miseries  and 
fatigues  arising  from  similar  appeals. 
All  this  is  most  prejudicial  to  the  Faith 
of  the  Holy  Church  of  God ;  wherefore 
may  the  Spouse  of  that  Church  in 
mercy  preserve  her  from  all  such 
injuries. 


Official  Letter  of  Approbation  of  the  Malleus  Maleficarum  from  the 
Faculty  of  Theology  of  the  Honourable  University  of  Cologne 

rHE  official  Document  of  Approbation  of  the  treatise  Malleus  Maleficarum,  and  the 
subscription  of  the  Doctors  of  the  most  honourable  University  of  Cologne,  duly  set  forth  and 
recorded  as  a  public  document  and  deposition. 

/N  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ,  Amen.  Know  all  men  by  these  presents ,  whosoever  shall 
read ,  see  or  hear  the  tenor  of  this  official  and  public  document,  that  in  the  year  of  our  Lord, 
1487,  upon  a  Saturday,  being  the  nineteenth  day  of  the  month  of  May,  at  the  fifth  hour  after 
noon ,  or  thereabouts,  in  the  third  year  of  the  Pontificate  of  our  most  Holy  Father  and  Lord,  the 
lord  Innocent ,  by  divine  providence  Pope ,  the  eighth  of  that  name,  in  the  very  and  actual  presence 
of  me  Arnold  Kolich,  public  notary ,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  witnesses  whose  names  are  hereunder 
written  and  who  were  convened  and  especially  summoned  for  this  purpose,  the  Venerable  and  Very 
Reverend  Father  Henry  Kramer,  Professor  of  Sacred  Theology ,  of  the  Order  of  Preachers,  Inquisitor 
of  heretical  depravity,  directly  delegated  thereto  by  the  Holy  See  together  with  the  Venerable  and 
Very  Reverend  Father  James  Sprenger,  Professor  of  Sacred  Theology  and  Prior  of  the  Dominican 
Convent  at  Cologne ,  being  especially  appointed  as  colleague  of  the  said  Father  Henry  Kramer, 
hath  on  behalf  both  of  himself  and  his  said  colleague  made  known  unto  us  and  declared  that  the 
Supreme  Pontiff  now  happily  reigning,  lord  Innocent,  Pope ,  as  hath  been  set  out  above,  hath  com¬ 
mitted  and  granted  by  a  bull  duly  signed  and  sealed  unto  the  aforesaid  Inquisitors  Henry  and  James, 
members  of  the  Order  of  Preachers  and  Professors  of  Sacred  Theology,  by  His  Supreme  Apostolic 
Authority,  the  power  of  making  search  and  inquiry  into  all  heresies,  and  most  especially  into  the 
heresy  of  witches,  an  abomination  that  thrives  and  waxes  strong  in  these  our  unhappy  days,  and  he 
has  bidden  them  diligently  to  perform  this  duty  throughout  the  five  Archdioceses  of  the  five  Metro¬ 
politan  Churches,  that  is  to  say,  Mainz,  Cologne,  Treves,  Salzburg  and  Bremen,  granting  them 
every  faculty  of  judging  and  proceeding  against  such  even  with  the  power  of  putting  malefactors 
to  death,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  Apostolic  bull,  which  they  hold  and  possess  and  have  exhibited 
unto  us,  a  document  which  is  whole,  entire,  untouched,  and  in  no  way  lacerated  or  impaired,  in  fine 
whose  integrity  is  above  any  suspicion.  And  the  tenor  of  the  said  bull  commences  thus:  “ Innocent , 
Bishop,  Servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  for  an  eternal  remembrance.  Desiring  with  the  most  heart¬ 
felt  anxiety,  even  os  Our  Apostleship  requires,  that  the  Catholic  Faith  should  especially  in  this  Our 
day  increase  and  flourish  everywhere,  .  .  .”  and  it  concludes  thus:  ‘  Given  at  Rome,  at  S.  Peter  s, 
on  the  g  December  of  the  Tear  of  the  Incarnation  of  Our  Lord  one  thousand,  four  hundred  and 
eighty-four,  in  the  first  Tear  of  Our  Pontificate 

Whereas  some  who  have  the  charge  of  souls  and  are  preachers  of  the  word  of  God,  have  been  so 
bold  as  to  assert  and  declare  publicly  in  discourses  from  the  pulpit,  yea,  in  sermons  to  the  people , 
that  there  are  no  witches,  or  that  these  wretches  cannot  in  any  way  whatsoever  molest  or  harm  either 
mankind  or  beasts,  and  it  has  happened  that  as  a  result  of  such  sermons,  which,  are  much  to  be 
reprobated  and  condemned,  the  power  of  the  secular  arm  has  been  let  and  hindered  in  the  punishment 
of  such  offenders ,  and  this  has  proved  to  be  a  great  source  of  encouragement  to  those  who  follow  the 
horrid  heresy  of  witchcraft  and  has  very  notably  increased  and  augmented  their  ranks,  therefore  the 
aforesaid  Inquisitors,  wishing  with  their  whole  hearts  and  strength  to  put  a  check  unto  such  abomina¬ 
tions  and  to  counteract  such  dangers,  have  with  much  study,  much  research,  and  much  labour,  indited 
and  composed  a  certain  Treatise  in  which  they  have  used  their  best  endeavours  on  behalf  of  the 
integrity  of  the  Catholic  Faith  to  rebuke  and  rebut  the  ignorance  of  those  who  dare  to  preach  so  gross 


276  OFFICIAL  LETTER  OF  APPROBATION 


errors ,  and  they  have  also  been  at  great  pains  to  set  forth  the  lawful  and  proper  way  whereby  these 
pestilent  witches  may  be  brought  to  trial ,  may  be  sentenced  and  condemned ,  according  to  the  tenor 
of  the  aforesaid  bull  and  the  regulations  of  Canon  Law.  But  since  it  is  very  right  and  altogether 
reasonable  that  this  good  work  which  they  have  wrought  for  the  common  benefit  of  us  all  should  be 
sanctioned  and  confirmed  by  the  unanimous  approval  of  the  reverend  Doctors  of  the  University ,  lest 
by  some  evil  chance  ignorant  and  ill-intentioned  men  should  suppose  that  the  aforesaid  Rectors  of 
the  faculty  and  the  Professors  of  the  Order  of  Preachers  are  not  wholly  at  one  in  their  view  of  these 
matters ,  the  authors  of  the  aforesaid  Treatise ,  exactly  written  out  as  it  is  to  be  printed  in  fair 
characters ,  in  order  that  when  it  is  so  printed  it  may  be  recommended  and  honourably  approved  by 
the  recorded  good  opinions  and  mature  judgement  of  many  learned  Doctors ,  handed  to,  and  laid 
before ,  the  most  honourable  University  of  Cologne ,  that  is  to  say, 'before  certain  Professors  of  Sacred 
Theology,  who  are  commissioned  and  required  to  act  as  representatives  of  the  most  honourable 
University,  the  aforesaid  Treatise  in  order  that  by  them  it  might  be  perused,  examined,  and  dis¬ 
cussed,  so  that  should  there  be  found  any  points  which  may  seem  in  any  way  doubtful  or  hardly  in 
agreement  with  the  teachings  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  such  points  might  be  corrected  and  emended  by 
the  judgement  of  the  said  learned  Doctors,  who  shall,  moreover,  ojficially  approve  and  commend 
whatsoever  the  Treatise  contains  which  is  agreeable  to  the  teachings  of  the  Catholic  Faith.  This 
accordingly  was  done  as  hath  been  set  forth  above. 

In  the  first  place,  the  honoured  lord  Lambertus  de  Monte  with  his  own  hand  subscribed  his  judge¬ 
ment  and  opinion  as  here  followeth:  “/,  Lambertus  de  Monte,  Professor  ( albeit  unworthy)  of  Sacred 
Theology,  and  at  this  time  Dean  of  the  faculty  of  Sacred  Theology  in  the  University  of  Cologne, 
do  here  solemnly  declare,  and  I  confirm  this  my  declaration  with  my  own  hand,  that  I  have  read  and 
diligently  perused  and  considered  this  Treatise,  which  is  divided  into  three  parts,  and  that,  in  my 
humble  judgement  at  any  rate,  the  first  two  parts  contain  nothing  at  all  which  is  in  any  way  contrary 
to  the  doctrines  of  sound  philosophy  or  contrary  to  the  truth  of  the  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Faith, 
or  contrary  to  the  opinions  of  those  doctors  whose  writings  are  approved  and  allowed  by  Holy  Church. 
Moreover,  in  my  opinion,  the  third  part  is  to  be  entirely  approved,  and  is  to  be  put  into  actual 
practice,  so  far  as  in  the  trials  and  punishment  of  these  heretics,  of  which  matters  it  treats,  nothing 
is  done  that  may  infringe  the  Canon  Law.  And  again  on  account  of  the  most  weighty  and  salutary 
matters  which  are  contained  in  this  Treatise ,  which,  even  if  it  were  only  because  of  the  honourable 
estate,  learning,  and  good  report  of  these  most  worthy  and  honoured  Inquisitors,  might  well  be  held 
to  be  useful  and  necessary,  all  diligent  care  should  be  taken  that  this  Treatise  be  widely  distributed 
to  learned  men  and  men  full  of  zeal,  who  thence  may  very  profitably  have  the  advantage  of  so  many 
and  so  well-considered  directions  for  the  extermination  of  witches,  and  it  should  also  be  put  into 
the  hands  of  all  rectors  of  churches,  particularly  those  who  are  honest,  active,  and  God-fearing  men, 
who  may  by  reading  therein  be  encouraged  to  arouse  hatred  in  every  heart  against  the  pestilent  heresy 
of  witches  and  their  foul  craft,  so  that  all  good  men  may  be  warned  and  safeguarded  and  evil-doers 
may  be  discovered  and  punished,  so  that  in  the  full  light  of  day  mercy  and  blessing  shall  fall  upon 
the  righteous  and  justice  shall  be  meted  out  to  those  who  do  evil,  and  thus  in  all  things  God  shall 
be  glorified,  to  Whom  be  all  honour,  praise,  and  glory.” 

Next  the  Venerable  Master  Jacobus  de  Stralen  with  his  own  hand  subscribed  his  judgement 
and  considered  opinion  thus:  “/,  Jacobus  de  Stralen,  Professor  of  Sacred  Theology,  after  having 
diligently  read  the  aforesaid  Treatise ,  declare  that  my  opinion  entirely  and  altogether  is  in  agree¬ 
ment  with  the  judgement  which  hath  been  set  forth  by  our  Venerable  Master  Lambertus  de  Monte, 
Dean  of  Sacred  Theology,  as  he  hath  written  above,  and  this  I  attest  and  witness  by  my  own  signature 
to  the  glory  of  God.” 

In  like  manner  the  honourable  Master  Andreas  de  Ochsenfurt  wrote  with  his  own  hand  as 
follows:  In  the  same  way  I,  Andreas  de  Ochsenfurt ,  Junior  Professor  of  Sacred  Theology,  record 
that  my  considered  opinion  of  the  matters  contained  in  the  said  Treatise  entirely  and  wholly  agrees 

with  the  judgement  written  above,  and  to  the  truth  of  this  I  bear  witness  by  the  subscription  of  my 
signature.”  r  j  s 

And  next,  in  like  manner ,  the  honoured  Master  Thomas  de  Scotia  subscribed  with  his  own 
hand  as  followeth:  I,  Thomas  de  Scotia,  Doctor  of  Sacred  Theology  {unworthy  though  I  be),  am 
fully  in  agreement  with  all  that  our  Venerable  Masters  have  written  above  with  regard  to  the  matters 
contained  in  the  said  Treatise,  which  I  also  have  carefully  examined  and  perused,  and  to  the  truth 
of  this  I  bear  witness  by  subscribing  my  signature  with  my  own  hand.” 

Here  followeth  the  second  subscription  with  regard  to  those  discourses  which  have  been  pro¬ 
nounced  from  the  pulpit  by  ignorant  and  blameworthy  preachers.  And  in  the  first  place  it  seems 
good  to  set  forth  the  following  articles: 

First  Article:  .The  Mas  ter s  of  Sacred  Theology,  who  have  subscribed  their  names  below,  do 
much  commend  the  Inquisitors  of  heretical  pravity,  who,  according  to  the  Canons,  have  been  sent 
as  deputies  by  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Apostolic  See,  and  they  would  humbly  exhort  them  to 
fulfil  their  exalted  office  with  all  zeal  and  industry. 

Second  Article:  The  doctrine  that  witchcraft  may  be  wrought  by  the  Divine  Permission  owing 
to  the  co-operation  of  the  devil  with  wizards  or  witches  is  not  contrary  to  the  Catholic  Faith,  but  is  in 


OFFICIAL  LETTER  OF  APPROBATION  277 

every  way  agreeable  to  the  teaching  of  Holy  Scripture  /  nay  more,  according  to  the  opinions  of  the 
Doctors  of  the  Church  it  is  a  belief  which  must  surely  be  held  and  steadfastly  maintained. 

Third  Article:  Therefore  it  is  a  grave  error  to  preach  that  witchcraft  cannot  be,  and  those  who 
publicly  preach  this  vile  error  notably  hinder  the  holy  work  of  the  Inquisitors  to  the  sore  prejudice 
of  the  safety  of  many  souls.  It  is  not  convenient  that  the  secrets  of  magic  which  are  often  revealed  j 
to  the  Inquisitors  should  indiscriminately  be  made  known  to  everybody. 

Last  Article:  All  princes  and  all  pious  Catholics  are  to  be  exhorted  that  they  should  use  their 
best  endeavours  always  to  assist  the  Inquisitors  in  their  good  work^of  the  defence  of  the  Catholic 
Faith. 

Wherefore,  these  Doctors  of  the  aforesaid  faculty  of  Theology  who  have  already  signed  above 
and  who  have  also  signed  below,  have  affixed  their  signatures  to  these  articles,  as  I,  Arnold  Kolich, 
public  notary,  who  have  signed  my  name  below,  have  learnt  from  the  sworn  information  of  John 
Vorde  of  Mechlin,  good  man  and  true,  sworn  Bedel  of  the  most  honourable  University  of  Cologne,  who 
declared  this  upon  oath  unto  me,  and  as  {for  their  hands  as  signed  above  and  below  are  well  known 
unto  me)  I  myself  have  seen  set  forth  as  here  followeth:  “I,  Lambertus  de  Monte,  Professor  of  Sacred 
Theology,  Dean  of  the  faculty,  stoutly  maintain  and  entirely  approve  of  the  articles  here  rehearsed, 
and  to  the  truth  of  this  I  bear  witness  by  my  signature  subscribed  with  my  own  hand.  I,  Jacobus 
de  Stralen,  Professor  of  Sacred  Theology,  similarly  maintain  and  entirely  approve  of  the  articles 
as  rehearsed  above,  and  to  the  truth  of  this  I  bear  witness  by  affixing  my  signature  with _  my  own 
hand.  I,  Udalricus  Kridwiss  von  Esslingen,  Junior  Professor  of  Sacrtd -Theology,  likewise  main¬ 
tain  and  entirely  approve  of  the  articles  as  set  forth  above,  and  to  the  truth  of  this  I  bear  witness 
by  affixing  my  signature  with  my  own  hand.  I,  Conradus  von  Campen,  Professor  in  ordinary  of  Sacred 
Theology,  declare  that  I  assent  to  and  am  in  entire  agreement  with  the  judgement  of  the  Senior  Pro¬ 
fessors.  I,  Cornelius  de  Breda,  Junior  Professor,  maintain  and  entirely  approve  of  the  articles  as 
set  forth  above,  and  to  the  truth  of  this  I  bear  witness  by  affixing  my  signature  with  my  own  hand. 
I,  Thomas  de  Scotia,  Professor  of  Sacred  Theology  ( albeit  unworthy),  entirely  agree  to,  maintain, 
and  approve  of  the  opinion  of  the  Venerable  Professors  who  have  signed  above,  and  to  the  truth  of 
this  I  set  my  name  with  my  own  hand.  I,  Theoderich  de  Bummel,  Junior  Professor  of  Sacred  Theology , 
entirely  agree  with  what  has  been  written  above  by  the  honoured  Masters  who  have  signed  their 
names  above,  and  to  the  truth  of  this  I  bear  witness  by  my  signature  written  with  my  own  hand. 
In  confirmation  of  the  above  articles  I  declare  that  I  am  wholly  and  entirely  of  the  same  opinion  as 
the  above  most  honoured  Masters  and  Professors,  I,  Andreas  de  Ochsenfurt,  Professor  of  the  faculty 
of  Sacred  Theology,  a  junior  member  of  the  Board  of  Theologians  of  the  most  honourable  University 
of  Cologne 

Finally  and  last  of  all,  the  aforesaid  Venerable  and  Very  Reverend  Father  Henry  Kramer, 
Inquisitor,  was  in  possession  of  and  showed  us  another  letter,  written  out  fair  on  virgin  parchment, 
bestowed  upon  and  granted  unto  him  by  the  most  Serene  and  Noble  monarch  the  King  of  the  Romans, 
which  parchment  bore  his  own  royal  red  official  seal,  impressed  upon  a  ground  of  blue  wax,  which 
seal  was  suspended  from  and  hanging  at  the  bottom  of  the  said  parchment,  and  this  was  whole 
and  entire,  untouched ,  not  cancelled  or  suspect,  in  no  wise  lacerated  or  impaired,  and  by  tenor  of 
these  presents  the  most  Exalted  Lord,  the  aforesaid  Noble  King  of  the  Romans,  in  order  that  for 
the  benefit  of  our  Holy  Faith  these  businesses  might  be  dispatched  with  the  greater  ease  and  expedi¬ 
tion,  in  his  royal  office  as  the  Most  Christian  King,  wished  and  wishes  that  the  same  Apostolic  bull, 
whereof  we  have  spoken  above,  should  be  in  every  way  respected,  honoured ,  and  defended,  and  the 
provisions  thereof  enforced ,  and  he  takes  the  Inquisitors  wholly  under  his  own  august  protection, 
commanding  and  requiring  all  and  everyone  who  are  subjects  of  the  Roman  Empire  that  they  shall 
show  the  said  Inquisitors  all  favour  and  grant  them  every  assistance  of  which  they  may  stand  in  need 
in  the  discharge  of  their  office,  and  they  shall  afford  the  Inquisitors  every  help  according  to  the  pro¬ 
visions  which  are  more  fully  contained  and  rehearsed  in  this  said  letter.  And  this  said  letter  issued 
by  the  King  commences  thus,  and  concludes  thus,  as  is  set  forth  in  order  here  below:  “Maximilian, 
by  the  Divine  Favour  and  the  Grace  of  God,  most  August  King  of  the  Romans,  Archduke  of  Austiia, 
Duke  of  Burgundy \  of  Lorraine,  of  Brabant,  of  Limburg,  of  Luxemburg  and  Guelderland,  Count 
of  Flanders' .  .  .  and  it  concluded  thus:  “Given  in  our  good  city  of  Brussels,  under  our  own 
hand  and  seal,  on  the  sixth  day  of  November,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand,  fourteen  hundred 
and  eighty-six,  in  the  first  year  of  our  reign.”  Wherefore,  with  regard  to  all  that  hath  been  rehearsed 
and  set  forth  above,  each  and  every,  the  aforesaid  Venerable  and  Very  Reverend  Father  Henry, 
Inquisitor,  on  behalf  of  himself  and  his  aforesaid  colleague,  sought  from  me,  the  public  notary, 
whose  name  is  written  above  and  is  subscribed  below,  that  each  document  and  all  these  documents 
should  be  officially  drawn  up  and  relegated  in  the  form  of  a  public  instrument  or  public  instruments, 
and  this  was  done  at  Cologne  in  the  house  and  the  dwelling  of  the  aforesaid  Venerable  Master 
Lambertus  de  Monte,  which  house  is  situate  within  the  immunities  of  the  Church  of  S.  Andrew  at 
Cologne,  in  the  room  where  this  same  Master  Lambertus  pursueth  his  studies  and  dispatcheth  his 
businesses,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  in  the  month,  on  the  day,  at  the  hour,  and  during  the  Pontificate , 
all  which  have  been  set  forth  above,  there  being  present  there  at  that  very  time  the  aforesaid  Master 
Lambertus,  and  the  Bedel  John,  as  also  Nicolas  Cuper  von  Venroid,  sworn  notary  of  the  Venerable 


Curia  of  Cologne ,  and  Christian  Wintzen  von  Eusskirchen,  a  cleric  of  the  diocese  of  Cologne ,  both 
good  men  and  true ,  who  bear  witness  that  this  request  was  formally  made  and  formally  granted . 

And  I,  Arnold  Kolich  von  Eusskirchen ,  a  cleric  of  the  diocese  of  Cologne ,  sworn  notary ,  was  also 
present  whilst  the  above  businesses  each  and  all  were  being  performed  and  were  carried  out ,  and 
to  this  I  give  my  evidence  with  the  aforenamed  witnesses;  and  in  accordance  with  what  I  saw  and 
with  what,  as  I  have  stated  above,  I  heard  upon  the  sworn  testimony  of  the  said  Bedel,  good  man 
and  true,  I  have  written  out  fair  with  my  own  hand  and  engrossed  the  present  public  instrument , 
which  I  have  subscribed,  and  have  caused  to  be  published  since  I  have  drawn  it  up  in  this  official 
form  for  publication,  and  being  requested  and  required  so  to  do  I  have  signed  it  and,  sealed  it 
according  to  the  wonted  manner  with  my  own  name  and  my  own  seal,  that  it  may  be  officially 
approved  and  may  be  a  sufficient  and  legal  testimony  and  probation  of  all  and  single  that  are  herein 
set  forth,  rehearsed,  and  contained. 


LIBRARY 


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